War of the Gods
by ShadowJake
Summary: The world is reawakened to the greatest danger ever. Finally restarted after 6 months. Romance, angst, action, fantasy, intricate plots, etc Let the phun-ness consume your soul.
1. Part One

Part One: War of the Gods  
  
Chapter One  
  
  
In the endless mural of life all things existed together, providing shelter, food, and company for one another. In the gentle sunset doves would fly off in great flocks, and dolphins would soar majestically through the water playing with one another. A chocobo would share its own greens with another and the two would lean into each other, sleeping in their warmth.  
  
Life in the world had been going pretty good. In fact, no signs of danger had been seen after Sephiroth had been killed and Meteor stopped. The world had continued, as it always should have. Chocobos ran along the fields, humans lay in their homes, birds flew as free as could be, and...  
  
Those who had no place to go had disappeared.  
  
A pair of brilliantly blue eyes tore through the miraculous beaut, so cold and dead they belonged to no ordinary individual. Blonde bangs slowly crept down the sleek forehead, blocking the large pupils from the sight.  
  
Cloud's mouth stayed in a straight line and he continued to stare far into the horizon, viewing the mountains which loomed over all in sight, their overcastting shadow creating its own ecosystem.  
  
His eyes only showed what his vision could see, while his mind was trapped in memories he begged every day to forget. But he would awake every morning and instantly the pain would return. The sorrow. The guilt of it all.  
  
He rose from his position; a smooth boulder that was the only identifiable mark within miles to show there existed more than level ground. Slowly turning around he came face to face with a black chocobo, its coal feathers contrasting against the gloriously beautiful day and the suns gentle rays.  
  
Cloud faked a smile, patting the chocobo behind its ears and picking himself up. "Hey there, little buddy. We better get going." Cloud had discovered Seko a few months ago as he lay outside for a long time - and it was the strangest creature he'd ever laid eyes on.  
  
Despite the markings akin to that of Nanaki's (several red scars were scraped across him) he held a great power that Cloud could not sense. With all creatures on the Planet you could sense how much Spirit Energy they used, but with Seko it was different. It was obvious the black chocobo was faster and more intelligent than any other was, but no signature was left.  
  
At first Cloud thought it belonged to someone from the Chocobo Farm (only a few miles away from Clouds 'thinking place'), but Chole had insisted he'd never seen it. Chole had been the only person he ever got used to at that place.  
  
So the chocobo was Clouds. Thinking back to a bit of the language he learned from his stay at Fort Condor, he named it Seko, meaning Midnight Beast to a very rough translation. It somehow fitted it and the two became great friends.  
  
The three years that had passed after Sephiroths demise and the Planets safety were ones filled with nightmares, horrible visions and headaches that caused Cloud to scream in agony every night, unable to sleep. He would wake up sweating, clutching his sword acting like he was finishing Sephiroth off. Or sometimes he'd wake up feeling himself being controlled by Jenova, manipulated in some way.  
  
That was the one thing he could never forgive Sephiroth for. The dead General had been innocent of all his crimes. Jenova...  
  
Climbing atop the large bird Cloud sighed in relief at going back to his home. He wasn't quite sure why he bothered to come out here so often, but it definitely made his visions occur less often. The chocobo chirruped merrily before running down the fields, all the other beasts moving away from it.  
  
That had been another interesting something to learn. Everything else was scared of Seko - perhaps more so than Cloud. Saying the bird was stronger than Cloud was preposterous, but the mysteries it lay in were far greater. After all, it had battle scars, while chocobo's hadn't been used for war in hundreds of years.  
  
Soon the two comrades came to the twenty mile stretch of bogginess that would set them back an hour or so, and Cloud had to cover his nose from the stench. The mist forced him to close his eyes and he could only pray chocobo's were used to this. They ran into no trouble at all besides the horrible stench and vision troubles but Cloud could somehow feel something was amiss.  
  
The mercenary always used to get a tingly feeling when something bad was about to happen, and he was getting that feeling right now. So as they neared the mountainside and the black chocobo cautiously hopped up it, Cloud subconsciously checked his materia.  
  
He had made a few 'upgrades' to the Buster Sword, so it could hold eight pieces of his precious materia. He was so used to the magic by now he doubted he'd survive a day knowing it wasn't there.  
  
Fire... Ice... Earth... Wind... Making sure it was all there, in their correct places and assuring himself nothing had been incompatible (A/N: You will know what I mean by this when I release my My FF7 World Chapter) he slowly slid the sword itself from his back.  
  
Seko finally stood at the top of the mountain and looked downwards, Cloud gasping and his eyes widening. There were thousands of monsters down there, of all types and most of which he'd never seen before. And... they were strong, much stronger than normal ones. It was as if some sort of army was being gathered.  
  
"Seko, down!" he hushed quietly and slid off the bird, ducking behind a small boulder so as not to be spotted. He needed a plan, but didn't know what magic he had that could destroy that many monsters in one blow.  
  
No... He knew all right.  
  
*  
  
Tifa wiped her hands by means of her apron, then pulled it over her head throwing it off. Sighing she looked around 7th Heaven, wishing something exciting could happen. There was two men in a corner chatting away as they drank from their mugs of beer, Barret was upstairs sleeping away, and Marlene was talking to Danny.  
  
Usually at this point Barret would go storming over to the fifteen-year-old boy and tell him to go clean up outside or give him some other unimportant task. The man disapproved of Marlene, now only thirteen years old, and Danny talking. They weren't in any type of romantic relationship, as far as Tifa could see, but Barret still got furious over it.  
  
Though personally she thought it was cute, seeing the two playing puppy love. Whether or not either realized it they made a great couple. But if they ever were to date Barret would be in hysterics from the age difference.  
  
"Hey Marlene!" Tifa called over. Looking away from her conversation the thirteen-year-old only halfway stared at Tifa. "I'm goin' out, you watch the place." Nodding she just turned back to Danny, and began giggling at the first thing he said.  
  
Smiling to herself she busted out of the cold and dark bar and glorious sunlight shone inside, and dust flew off from the door. Up here in Kalm the sun was so amazingly bright but as always 7th Heaven remained a bit gloomy. Rubbing her eyes for just a moment she decided to go do some shopping. So the first place she went to was her friend Larry's weapon shop.  
  
"Hey Larry!" she said enthusiastically coming through the doorway, skipping to the counter.  
  
"Hey Teef. 'Sup?" he asked coolly, not really bothered by the fact a gorgeous woman was inside his store. He was about the only guy in town not all that interested in Tifa as a sex object.  
  
"Oh, nothing. I was wonderin' if you got anything new in stock. You know, weapons or materia, or something." Batting her eyelashes at him he couldn't resist a smile.  
  
"Actually yeah, I just got somethin' this morning. Some new gloves I thought you may have been interested in." Ducking behind the counter Tifa could hear him shuffling around, muttering to himself about something. After a few minutes he finally came out with a small gray box, a Celtic dragon symbol on the front.  
  
Sliding it over to Tifa she pried open the lid and took out the two fingerless gloves. She slid both onto her hands and admired every little detail on them. They were a velvety black, yet somehow they still seemed to shimmer in the light in their own special way. They ran down her wrists tightly, yet still allowing comftorablity, and stopped about halfway down to the elbow.  
  
The true beauty though was two sketchy figures of dragons that were facing one another from each wrist, growling. The pictures seemed to be alive and brought out a message, reminding the wearer to stay strong.   
  
The cool leather felt like glass, cold at first but slowly becoming irresistible. Tifa's large eyes widened as soon as she noticed the materia slots. On each glove there were two pairs of linkable slots. Not many weapons could have this much materia connected to it, and she'd never seen gloves that could do it.  
  
"I'll take it. No matter how much it costs."  
  
Larry began laughing. "Aw, come on Teef! These things cost fifty-thousand gil, there's no way you can afford it."  
  
"Not in cash, but if you put it to my credit card I have enough to buy twenty pairs of these." His eyes widened. Everyone knew Tifa used to be an 'adventurer' but no one was sure if she got any treasure from it.  
  
"Uh... Sure thing, just hand it over." She flipped it over to him as she began brushing her fingers over the tough leather, and it was indeed tough. "Sign here," Larry muttered handing over a piece of paper. She signed it and took the other paper, then skipped out of the shop happily.  
  
She decided the best place to try them out would be the mountain. After one of Weapons attacks it had been knocked down into the ground, which made it push all the earth up from the collision and form a large mountain at the back of Kalm.  
  
Jogging up the mountain she managed to reach the top after an hour or so and looked around just for curiosity sake. Scanning from the left she could almost make out Chocobo Ranch's pastures, and looked along the mountain range stretching around the continent. She also saw Midgar, still being repaired.  
  
She sighed. For some reason she thought by coming up here she would be able to see Cloud or at least feel his presence. But it was to no avail. The three years without him had been hard on her, but she learned to cope with it.  
  
Turning to the rocky wall she began to bring back a fist, preparing to see the strength of the gloves. The right fist slammed into the wall and she felt no pain, but after a few seconds passing it began to crack, and a good foot-long chunk fell from it. Grinning she began pounding with both her fists, her energy never falling away even for a second.  
  
The greatest way for her to release all the stress she built up was by fighting, and since the monsters had mysteriously become calm she took it out on inanimate objects.  
  
After another hour of pounding away a cold hand fell onto her shoulder, and she jumped up at first. Tifa dropped to the ground and spun preparing to kick the stranger in the chest and stopped just in time as she saw it was Barret. "Sorry Barret, didn't know it was you."  
  
"Dat's alright, Tifa. Jes came on up here wonderin' if ya were ready to come on down?" he asked softly. He had decided to be much easier on people after Reeve made him realize just how rash his actions in Avalanche had been.  
  
"Yeah, you're right, but can't we stay up here for just a bit longer..?" He nodded understandingly. They walked to the edge of the mountain and stared out towards the horizon, towards where Cloud would be.  
  
Tifa found Barret poking her a few hours later, waking her up. When she simply muttered, unaware she had ever fallen asleep, he carried her down to 7th Heaven.  
  
*  
  
Cloud stood behind the small boulder, his eyes squeezed shut and both his arms shot downwards, as if they were trying to escape from his body. His thin lips were mumbling words.  
  
He was searching for that element, the one that belonged to none. For this particular spell he need not call on the powers of wind, fire, lightning, water, earth or any other common-found element. With this he had to search in the back of his mind, experience the pain it felt, and the joy of victory.  
  
Cloud would feel the sorrow of it as its land was completely destroyed, the people screaming as they burned alive. The land it had come from had been so destroyed it affected it, giving it no element. The destroyed land had nothing to offer the stone, so instead it took the power of emotions.  
  
Cloud began to feel his heart race, the soft yet recognizable footsteps as Seko stepped back in alarm, the screams of all sorts of beasts far below. When in this state of tranquillity his senses heightened, and new ones opened up to become his.  
  
Swinging one hand swiftly, leaving images of itself behind, Cloud brought another hand forth and screamed. "ULTIMA!"  
  
The monsters below suddenly took notice of the intruder. Particles of green energy swam inside the mass of raw magical energy swimming around Cloud, preparing to become the most daring attack. It sloshed back and forth like it were a pool, and Clouds body slowly began to pull from the boulder, raising into the air like he were being pulled by his hair.  
  
His eyes snapped open and the green mass of energy fell forth, swimming down the mountainside into the canyon and pouring over the monsters. It spread as it fell forth, from the twenty-foot pool to a fifty-foot one in a matter of seconds. The beasts were screaming as their skin was burning, like some acid cutting through them. Yet the energy was so light, it didn't touch the ground, it just swayed above like some fog.  
  
After a few minutes of the high-pitched wailing and cries, the screams died down. Not all the monsters had died, but all within sight of Cloud were either dead or too frightened to attack. Far from Clouds sight a single man walked outside of a cave, garbed in a violet cloak. Though the distance was far too great to be sure, Cloud knew he was snarling.  
  
With one pale, scrawny hand pointed at Cloud two small winged enemies flew from the cave. Sighing, Cloud drew his sword before him, prepared to fight. "Seko, the moment I hack and slash these two we take off that way," Cloud pointed vaguely west," and don't turn back. Got it?" The large bird gave a vigorous nod and Clod readied himself for the attack. It wouldn't take long.  
  
They were much faster than he had estimated, for they were upon him within seconds. The first blue-and-green dragon slapped Cloud with a wing, which made it stray from a steady course but also caused the mercenary to fly back a few feet and slam into a mountainside.  
  
"Ah shit..." he said weakly, getting up slowly. "Okay, stronger then I thought. Still no problem." The second dragon, this one red-and-orange, came flying towards him and quickly flew upwards, just as Cloud had leapt outwards slashing. He came only inches below it and hit the ground, skidding for a moment before launching back with an outstretched leg.  
  
This time one of the dragons' sharp talons cut through his left calf and held onto it, the blonde's blood quickly sliding towards his head (he was, after all, being flown upside down). Clutching his sword tightly he prayed this would work, and turned his waist, swinging his arms around the neck of the dragon only slightly larger than him. Holding on with both hands of his sword again, he used it to launch himself onto the dragon.  
  
That had been his plan to start with, anyway. Instead, the egotistical psycho overshot the back and flew from it, falling about a hundred feet. "Shit shit shit shit shit this is gonna huuuuuurt!" Meeting a rough but somehow not as hard as expected landing he sighed in relief seeing he had landed on his chocobo.  
  
Standing on top of the chocobo he awaited the two dragons to come in for another attack. He decided his materia to be used and began to get a feel for the surroundings.  
  
With his mind he could picture the tanned mountains baking in the sun, the heat the rays were causing. He could feel the compressed heat left in between canyon sides and at last had gathered the needed energy.  
  
He began laughing madly as the ice dragon came soaring in from the left. He pushed his hand out and lifted his palm upwards, red particles gathering. His eyes glowed an eerie blue for just a moment before a swirling mass of fire shot out. It was like a beam of it, but so much more. It was a large source of immensely hot fire, put in simple terms.  
  
The ice dragon only managed to give one shriek before being blown away by it, a gaping hole in its stomach.  
  
The fire dragon obviously decided to play it smarter, seeing his comrade was down so easily. It swooped in from behind and with its mouth open blew a ball of fire towards Cloud, forcing him to be launched dozens of feet to the left. Seko continued on for a few minutes before noticing its owner missing, so retreating was out of the question.  
  
Cloud had tumbled halfway down a hill and was finally getting up, seeing his arm was now without a doubt broken. Oh well. It won't be too much of a problem. The one threat to his victory was the fact that his sword had gone missing. That left him with no materia at all.  
  
The fire dragon came flying down towards him once again, and at the last second he pulled off a back flip, arching his back in such ways it should have been impossible. Landing on his two feet quite smoothly he brought back one fist, prepared for the winged enemy to come against him again.  
  
When it did come it decided to use something new, not trusting its clever foe. Cloud was prepared to punch it as it came head-on, but instead the creature stopped in mid-air just in front of Cloud, bringing its wings up. Cloud fell back from the huge amount of wind blowing into his face and could feel his arm twisting yet again.  
  
Muttering under his breath he rolled away to dodge any attacks, but the dragons' lightning-fast reflexes left Cloud with yet another cut into his leg. Tears filled his eyes from the burning sensation he was feeling but he still managed to stand up.  
  
"That's it. There is only so much bullshit I can take." He started a limping run after the dragon that was just about to turn back for its own finishing move. His speed quickly doubled and he continued going faster, till he was about ten feet from his enemy. Jumping through the air he grabbed the dragons' neck with his good hand and slammed it into the ground when he landed.  
  
Snapping its neck with his foot just to be safe, he turned back to Seko who was almost back to Cloud. "Come on boy. Let's hurry up." he said, gathering his sword with his left hand.  
  
Swinging one foot over the chocobo the two rushed off across the mountains, a trip that would last until afternoon the next day if they didn't stop. But most unfortunately, it wasn't quite over yet.   
  
Standing just before Cloud was the violet cloaked man, his hood casting over his face so his features were hidden. He simply waited there, seemingly staring straight at Cloud. "We shall finish this later." His voice was raspy and dead sounding, as if he hadn't spoken for years and it was unused. Cloud merely nodded. "North of Junon... you may find my apprentice. There we shall see your potential."  
  
Cloud gave another short nod and the violet figure disappeared, slowly fading away. He hadn't had a fight in a good long while, this would probably be tougher than the one he just had. "Come Seko, let's hurry."  
  
*  
  
Cloud slowly lay up from his position on the grass, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. His right arm felt twisted still and the burning sensation was increasing, a fever beginning to spread to Cloud.  
  
Seeing it was still nighttime he guessed he had only been asleep for a few hours, but felt completely regenerated. Well, not completely regenerated seeing his energies. But his weariness had been washed away and his leg had already begun to heal.  
  
Shaking his head to wake himself up he turned around, looking for Seko. The bird was dozing near by enjoying himself. Ah, let him have his rest. He shouldn't have to go through this anyway... Sighing he gazed towards the stars far above. Each were twinkling with energy and showed their own emotions.  
  
Continuing to stare upwards his thoughts began to drift... To a woman he had once known...  
  
Shaking his head again, feeling that groggy feeling, he knew it was a bad idea to think of her. It always was. After they had defeated Sephiroth Cloud knew he could never be with civilized people again, his mind so corrupted. He was weak, and that was all there was to it... Physically built as the worlds strongest, mentally that of a seven-year old child.  
  
Seko chirped merrily, getting up and walking over to his owner. "Hey boy. Ready to go? I'm afraid you're not going to see my own home, and we aren't resting for a while. So if you want to sleep a bit longer go ahead."  
  
The chocobo only stared into his tormented eyes and waited for Cloud to get atop of him. "Fine," he said smiling. Seko was so naive, just as he had been when in ShinRa.  
  
A painful burst shot through his head, his eyes clenched tight and his left hand already raised to his head, holding it in pain. He... just couldn't... think those thoughts. Breathing deeply he dropped his hand, and put it to his back. Unstrapping the sheath to the buster sword he switched it to suit his left hand.  
  
"Let's go!"  
  
*  
  
Clouds brilliant blue eyes cracked as if they were lightning for just a second, before settling down to the tamer shade of the color. As often happened when the wanderer was nestled deep in his thoughts, unaware of his surroundings.  
  
Seko was cautiously hopping along the loose rocks on the mountain. The large bird was not afraid - he was just in no hurry. So the two made their way up along the colorful mountains, head off in a supposedly western direction (North, east, south, and west had never really been used on the Planet. Navigation was often complicated seeing as how there were no stars to point them towards places).  
  
It would only be a week or two before they met the impossibly hard task of defeating an unknown enemies apprentice. The fact the person was still in training left Cloud feeling a bit relieved, but he had learned to never under estimate an enemy. It could be ones downfall.  
  
Sighing as he snapped back into reality, Cloud unsheathed the large sword and held it up, testing the weight and making calculations in his head of how well he could wield it.  
  
*  
  
Tifa was still laying awake in her bed, at what she estimated to be about three in the morning. She had this feeling that something was horribly wrong, and if she didn't set out to make it right soon enough, it would stay that way. But in moments like these it was wiser to think about what was happening, and not act irrationally.  
  
But Tifa was not one of those people to go by what was 'wiser'. She acted on instincts, and right now they were yelling 'Go for it'.  
  
So while it was still late, she slipped into suitable clothing, grabbed her gloves from the desk and set out with some food in a bag. She calmly walked through Kalm until she made it to the edge of town. Turning back for a moment, she whispered something quietly, letting the wind carry her message.  
  
Marlenes eyes suddenly snapped open, as if she had never been sleeping at all but just closed her eyes for a moment. She was nearly positive she had heard the faintest sound of someone saying "I'll be home soon."  
  
  
Authors Notes: *twitches* Er... Is this good? Hope it is... I wasn't quite sure how to handle everything with Tifa so I was kind of just making that up there.  
  
But I hope you like it. Everything with Cloud suddenly makes more sense... Meaning there's no gigantic dragon, nor is there a meeting with two strangers that freak him out.  
  
I like my idea of ultima. Since it came from North Corel I thought about ultima being from there, and after a while it made sense that ultima was the power of emotions. As it travelled down the mountain it sort of picked up stronger emotions from the animals and stuff, which was why it was so powerful.  
  
If you don't like anything with this, please tell me. I tried desperately to make this chapter better. Unfortunately, the next one is shorter and not as good (but I improved it compared to Chapter Two of the original fic). 


	2. Part Two

Chapter Two  
  
Reeve was stampeding down the halls of ShinRa headquarters, yelling into his cell phone as his face sparked red with rage. Two bodyguards silently followed in pursuit, each one properly clothed in dark suits and shades, their faces blank with no visible emotion.  
  
Reeve suddenly turned, alarming the bodyguards for just a moment before they returned to the perfect stillness expected of them. "Now look! You God forsaken moron, why can I not get this through to you? We do NOT, I repeat, we do NOT reply to disobedience with violence."  
  
There was a faint sound of chatter on the phone before Reeve yelled out again. "ARGH! NO! Look, I have an appointment with Hawkings boys right now, and you know what asses they can be. Call back in a bit."  
  
President Reeve sighed, admiring himself in the mirror. Dark suit with tie, shades appropriately set to his face, and his hair slicked back. Wiping the glasses quickly he threw the twin doors open, where a long, rectangular table lay.  
  
Already there were the three representatives of Hawking Enterprises, all suited in grey vests and pants that were far too tight, with a little hawk printed onto their chests.  
  
Also there were most of the higher positioned members of ShinRa. The Head of Military, as well as leaders from the Science, Transportation, and Urban Development. Like most ShinRa members they too were dressed in the appropriate, though bland, black clothing.  
  
The three representatives each stood up and shook hands with Reeves overly firm grip. Turning towards the only remaining seat left on the table at the far end of the Hawking Representative, he placed both his hands onto the chair and glared from beneath the shades.  
  
"So. I'm sorry I was so late, but I had to wait for the vice president to take a hint." Vice president Moors was an annoying little man whom had somehow made it near the top of positions in ShinRa, mostly through means of assassination. He always over reacted and most people tended to stay as far away from his as possible.  
  
"Well, considering the time you have already wasted you better hurry this up, President." Reeves' grip tightened onto the chair. "And it had better be quite convincing. Ever since... then..." the word was spoken faintly, as if the memory brought back pain, "the people have been wary of your actions.  
  
"We at Hawking Enterprises of course realize this is no fault of yours - we proved so by supplying you with the required money for Naval Defences. But with weaponry none shall trust you. As you must understand, it would be a most unwise decision on our behalf."  
  
Reeves grip loosened on the cool leather as he straightened his back. "The weaponry shall be sent to all allies of Junon, including Costa del Sol, Midgar, and anyone else wishing to be associated with. It will mostly be airships, airplanes, great fleets of ships and tanks. It would be a major breakthrough, can't you see?"  
  
"All I can see is a man with false hopes." The mans words were cold, saying that there was no hope for Reeve.  
  
"It would all be for defence purposes..."  
  
"Against what? The ocean? There are no longer any more enemies!"  
  
At last, the young Ms. Rebecca Patterson spoke up, her mind screaming for her to. "Sir, sorry to speak out of order, but don't you think science is the answer? I agree with these men over here - we have detected no enemies besides the monsters who only sometimes attack towns. There is no major threat to life, and for the first time in years more towns are being created. Science can be of more importance to us right now - more than anything."  
  
The speaking representative grinned. "Even your own team disagrees with you. Come back to us when you have something worth telling us about." With that the three made their exit from the dark room, leaving the ShinRa members in silence.  
  
"Sir, I didn't mean to-" Rebecca started to say, but the President rose one hand, his face downwards. Pointing towards the door that was still swaying back and forth, the members began to depart.  
  
Although it was true in most ways Reeve had become a rich man by inheriting ShinRa, he was also heavily in debt. It had turned out the business had been going broke for quite some time - President Rufus had to actually loan money from Hawking to build the Sister Ray.  
  
This had made ShinRa a scavenging business, settling with whatever they could get their hands on - though most of the loyal employees had stayed behind, no matter what the pay cuts were. That was how their technology remained at a state higher than any others, and they were currently looking into using steam or electricity for the being repaired Midgar (renamed Neo-Midgar).  
  
Taking a cigarette from his pocket he began to head for the hangar.  
  
*  
  
Cid began a string of swears and curses he had picked up over the years, crumpling a piece of paper and throwing it vaguely towards a trash can. It missed.   
  
Picking up the pencil again he stared at the sheet filled with his original idea, then scanned it over a few times more just to be sure. Sketching it out onto a blank piece of paper new ideas began to fill his head. It had turned from the original bulky airplane to a sleek design of the Highwind, suitable for only about five or so people. It was very compact and capable of soaring through the skies as well as roaming the ground.  
  
But Cid kept running into problems with the fuel and the weight. It weighed so much from being able to fly and drive that it could only reach about ten yards or so, before it began to fail. If he wanted to keep it aloft he would have to add some feature to have more fuel, considering the speed needed would burn it away.  
  
Though as brilliant as the engineer was he just couldn't find a way. The new design he had just sketched looked quite promising though. And, feeling as if it were a work of art, quickly put his signature in the corner.  
  
Grinning the pale-blonde headed man lit a cigarette and raised it to his mouth, taking a drag and breathing out slowly. The sliding doors opened at the far end of the hangar and President Reeve came walking through, a look of worry on his face.  
  
When he approached the middle-aged pilot he looked at the cigarette with dismay. "You're not supposed to smoke in here, you know." Waiting expectantly for a few moments he realized that Cid didn't care. "...So... How goes the flying car idea?"  
  
"Not too well. Still having the same problem... repeatedly. Constantly. And more. We get the money needed for weapons, though?" Cid sceptically looked at Reeve with a sidelong glance.  
  
"No... But I think we'll bring them around eventually. Until then, try to keep the budget down. I'm not going to limit you to a set amount, but just try to keep everything below normal costs, okay?" Cid gave a brief nod before returning to managing his group of elite engineers, currently working on the engine for some other idea of Cids.  
  
Seeing nothing else needed to be said, the President walked off, ignoring the sounds of metal scraping against metal, and engineers yelling across the hangar. His eyes held a vacant look.  
  
*  
  
That night Cid stayed inside the hangar till the moon was high in the sky, and the last of the engineers left for the weekend, parting with his employer.  
  
He sat as his plain gray desk, with nothing to show the papers before him but a small desk-lamp that soon began to flicker, the bulb dying. Sighing, he looked down from the sheets of blueprints and looked for a lightbulb. A few minutes of rummaging around proved to show that he had finally run out. Throwing the empty box away he saw a pile of letters that had been laying beneath them.  
  
They were the letter Shera used to write to him - most of which just after they had been married and he took this job. Living in Costa del Sol and working in Junon meant that Cid was away from home five days a week, and only got to see his wife on most of Saturday and Sunday.  
  
Though this meant they could be more intimate with one another, it also held the fact that he would have been exhausted from work and she would want to release so much emotion on him he couldn't take it.  
  
The letters were mostly in plain paper, though scented with a sweet perfume that mesmerized Cid. Before her he would say it sickened him, but the aroma would captivate him when in privacy. It always gave the impression she was near him.  
  
Her neat handwriting came in twists and turns, expressing her emotions and showing the deep love she had always held for him. Cid would often feel bad about how small the pile of letters he'd sent to her were, but she understood he was one of those men who tried to act like the 'strong, silent type.'  
  
Quickly placing all the letters in a shoebox he put them into a locked drawer, already holding pictures of his beloved. Locking it, he put all the drawings onto a corner of the desk and walked out of the hangar.  
  
Tomorrow he would see Shera.  
  
*  
  
Cid quickly boarded on the first ship going across to Costa del Sol at six in the morning, the place silent and very few people gathering. But already a group of skaters had met near by, bringing a boom box and Cid could've sworn they did so just to piss him off.  
  
Showing his ticket to the man nearest he moved towards the bar. Having two homes meant he didn't need to bring luggage, but he had a small bag of things he brought to most places.  
  
The bar was as desolate as the rest of the ship, and the air dead. The only person there was the barkeeper, a slim young man with spiked blonde hair. Cids first impression was 'pretty boy musician wannabe'. His impression stayed that way for the rest of the trip.  
  
"Gimme the strongest shit ya got, boy." The young mans eyes narrowed as he heard the words, but he never the less poured him a drink. Taking it all down in one go Cid's eyes widened, and he found himself standing up pushing against the table.  
  
"What is this weak shit?!"  
  
"Speciality. Thirty gil."  
  
"Oooh no! I ain't payin' no thirty gil for this weak, non-alcoholic shit!" Sighing, knowing he had no choice, he pushed the money over to the grinning idiot. Muttering he walked out up to his cabin.  
  
Stomping as loud as he could, praying it bothered someone, he unlocked his door and walked through. Dropping his bag, his mouth gaped. Before his very eyes...  
  
"SWEET MOTHER OF ALL GODS! A MINI-BAR!"  
  
*  
  
"Arriving at destination in five minutes!" the voice boomed. Or seemed to boom. Cid had learnt a valuable lesson. Never drink a lot, especially when you'll be waking up in five hours, meaning having a hangover way too early.  
  
Grasping his head he rolled off the bed, and struggled for a couple of minutes to get up. Shaking his head, he made sure to leave enough money for the mini-bar raid, grabbed his socks and shoes, then his bag, and stumbled out (all done in one sentence!).  
  
Stumbling out, he gripped the nearest rail and began his slow walk, making it towards the front of the ship just as it came in contact with the dock. He brushed a hand through his pale blonde hair and attempted to not look drunk.  
  
Walking down the wide piece of what looked conspicuously like scrap metal, Cid made his way towards Shera, waiting in front of the few other people there, her eyes shining and her smile widening.  
  
Giving a short wave he stumbled past the last few steps and caught her as she flew into his arms, laying her head onto his shoulder. "I have missed you."  
  
"And I you." It didn't seem to sound like the sort of thing Cid the Almighty Swearer would say, but over these past few years a great many changes had taken place. Most of which had been because of the passion he and Shera shared, but also partly because Cloud was no longer in his life.  
  
He had become more dominant when seeing other members of AVALANCHE, as if Cid had somehow become the new leader. As Barret had once phrased it, "Always the blonde dumbasses."  
  
Shera brought her head swaying around to him, before stopping just before their lips met. "You've been drinking. There's no hiding it from me!"  
  
"Yeah, we better get home. I'm not too sure it's safe for me to have a hangover so soon."  
  
"Don't you remember last time you did that?" Seeing his confused expression they both decided it was definitely not safe to have a hangover so soon. Grabbing her wrist the two ran from the docks towards their home, not far from their current position. Their footsteps hit the smooth pavement loudly, and they laughed together.  
  
Soaring through the door and into the expensive villa, the two carried on with their momentum built up. Flying into the bedroom and onto the bed Shera smiled at Cid once, before collapsing onto his chest.  
  
She listened to his soft breathing, and felt around the soft, silk sheets. Cids normally excited eyes were closed, and his breathing began to get softer until it was apparent he was asleep. Grabbing one of the pillows, she slammed it across his tanned face.  
  
"Ah dammit! What's wrong with you?" Smiling sheepishly, he realized he must have fallen asleep.  
  
"You're no fun, Cid!" She immediately regretted the remark. Cid smiled at her, his eyes twinkling despite the dim lights (an ability he had always seemed to have). The grin plastered onto his face was one that brought thoughts to the mind - ones one would not normally think of.  
  
"Oh really..." She yelped as he pounced on her, throwing her off and him on top of her. "We'll have to see about that."  
  
His cool hands sent a shiver down her spine, but soon it became intoxicating, the feel of his rough hands. Despite his breath smelled of alcohol he brought his head down in a fierce kiss, not letting go until she was ignorant of the breath and beginning to get into the mood.  
  
She whispered his name, and they began to take one anothers' clothes off.  
  
Authors Notes: Hmm... Like I said in my other A/N, this one isn't as good. I never do as good as I would normally do in the countryside. I think that's because I find the city life so dull and boring, dark and bland. While the country has sweet aromas, beautiful wildlife, sunsets, hills streaming with flowers, and all that.  
  
In my opinion I think FF7 would have been better if it had been a bit more medieval, don't ya think? I mean, it wouldn't have really worked, but hell, I don't like the idea of businesses and all that. Sorry this chapter got shorter, but since there's less description there's less words.  
  
I'm going to try and improve on the whole city business. The reason I don't just rewrite this is cause I'm tired of always rewriting things.   
  
BTW, I'm going to start on another FF7 fic once I get up to the first fight between the three main characters. I'm not gonna stop this one - jes gonna work on both. It'll be an alternate universe about a young man in ShinRa who is on the case of tracking Cloud down and destroying him after an incident at the beginning of the game.  
  
He'll also be a bit of a summoner.... But that would have to be later in the fic. Put simply though, he'll have a deep bond with his summons. It's an idea I picked up from Jake (meeeee!) in A Hero's Soul (something else I wanna rewrite - but not till WotG is done, which will prolly be at least eight months or maybe more).  
  
C'Yaz!  
  
P.S. If anyone is interested in being a proofreader, I'd greatly appreciate it. I would ask one of my friends to do it, but most of them are busy (though I know some of them could do a really good job). Or not. Pretty soon, I'm gonna use my parents scanner to upload some of my own art for this story, but so far I only have 2 characters drawn (one hasn't been introduced yet) and they're not very good, but by my standards they're great. 


	3. Part Three

Chapter Three  
  
Reeve leaned back into his (expesive) leather recliner, sighing in deep content. He was watching HBO - right now some movie about phantoms on some planet had practically destroyed the place. It looked cool enough to him, but he wasn't paying all that much attention.  
  
He noticed after another minute or so he had already run out of popcorn - yet only minutes ago he had a large bowl full of it. "Ah well, you win some, you eat the rest."  
  
Kicking the recliner into full-sitting position he got up, and just before he went through the doors to the kitched he heard a beep come from the television. Thankfully with the Planets television stations they didn't have a warning, so it must have been a serious news break.  
  
Reeve decided to not get his popcorn just yet. Turning to the television he saw some man with a stack of paper in his hands. Reeve had a theory that in fact, the stack of paper was pornography and they held it there to train themselves to keep a serious face. When they perfected this technique they quit working there and moved to Deleware.  
  
The fact Deleware did not exist on the Planet or in this dimension proved his theory wrong.  
  
He moved closer to his recliner, putting one hand on its cold leather, which instantly turned warm. A little fact he had always hated about leather. "Several reports coming in from the Icicle Inn area today have lead to serious injuries. People are claiming the lifestream is destroying the city and affecting the locals. When a SOLDIER band was sent they found a suprising amount of truth in this.  
  
"Black liquid is seeping out through cracks in the ground, created by recent earthquakes of a minor magnitude. But the strength of these earthquakes is increasing, as is the amount of time they happen. They are guessing it to be some kind of deranged form of the lifestream, possibly caused by the acts of Sephiroth a few years ago." Reeve noticed the reporter showed a sign of emotion at the name of Sephiroth. Now he would never move to Deleware. "The fact that Sephiroths body wasn't recovered after ShinRa destroyed him may be hinting at something, though we shall hope not."  
  
ShinRa had been rewarded with praise, people claiming the Sister Ray had destroyed Sephiroth. AVALANCHE didn't mind this, seeing that Reeve was now President and obviously was not going to let this get to his head.  
  
Reeve muttered under his breath. This was most definitely not good news. Forgetting about the popcorn he moved over to his phone.  
  
*  
  
Cid was cleaning his small airplane at the docks wearing nothing but some long shorts. His muscles pulled together tightly as he scrubbed at it. It was always something he had been proud of - despite his age he had mantained a strong body and a respectable face. He even had some of the beach chicks around here asking him out.  
  
The Tiny Bronco II was glistening as he finished up scrubbing it, the red paint having dried only hours ago. The pilot was in an overall good mood - yesterday had been a very good day for him. He had even decided to try and quit smoking so often - he'd limited himself to eight a day, which was quite good for him.  
  
It had always been one of the (my 7,777th word is 'the'! WOO!) things Shera had always nagged about. And last year when the doctor told him his lungs may began to fail sort of made him want to give up anyway. He just hadn't had the chance as of yet.  
  
Laying back on his clothes he let the high sun do its work on his already tanned skin, which was not going to be getting any darker. He never really flew the plane - it was just one of those things people do when they get older. Do something just to say they have done it. There were several things he wished he had done when he was younger, and he regretted not treating every day with respect and admiration.  
  
He began to whistle after a while, feeling a bit bored. Over the past few years his life had been considerably duller. After some of the adventures he had with AVALANCHE he missed the adrenaline rush of the battle.  
  
He wondered if he could help fight around the Junon area, but they had expert defences and guards set up around the premisis. Though the monster attacks were more frequent everyone claimed it was 'under control'. Cid was thinking something big would be coming soon.  
  
He always could rely on flying instead of fighting, but what with being away five days a week he was too tired to do so at the weekend.  
  
Nearby his small cell phone began to ring, a song by one of his favorite bands playing. Most people near by ignored it but some people looked at him skeptically.   
  
A bit embarassed he picked it up quickly and answered with a gruff, "Yeah?"  
  
Reeve was on the phone.  
  
*  
  
Shera had been doing the dishes when she saw the news come on with the report. She knew that soon enough Cid would be getting a call from his employer, and that he would be having to go. She just didn't expect her husband to react with such sudden movement.  
  
She had been cleaning one of the last dishes when Cid came running through the room, shoved as many of his things into his bag as he could, then took off running with it, saying all in one breath, "Sorry gotta go be back later gonna take the plane don't worry I'll take off a break soon love you bye!"  
  
The door slammed and she raised her head.  
  
*  
  
Cid slapped his goggles around his head and quickly gathered his clothes, pulling them around his body so he wouldn't freeze to death once in the air.  
  
He had decided after hearing the news he couldn't wait for the next ship - it wouldn't be coming until the late evening. This way though he'd be arriving in about six hours, or close to that. Longer than the ship, but he didn't have to wait for it.   
  
Checking that everything was working correctly the small plane began to leave the dock from the water. People near by were crowding around to see him take off, shouting out his name. By now most had heard of the Tainted Lifestream, as it was dubbed, and knew Cid was a high-ranking member of ShinRa. They felt he would make everything right.  
  
Making it out far enough the plane began to slowly rise, until at last he turned in the air, flying over the heads of the people cheering his name. Swerving once more he headed off towards Junon, ascending towards the fluffy white clouds far above.  
  
The rush of flying had always been one he greatly enjoyed; it pushed the adrenaline in a different way than fighting. It made one feel like there were no limits, and they had the freedom to do as they wished.  
  
The air blowing against his face, stinging like needles, was greatly welcomed. It blew through his hair, releasing every strand and pushing it upwards, spiked even more than usual. His eyes, even whilst hidden in the protection of the goggles, were narrowed from the feeling of an addictive pain.  
  
He had always been the type to enjoy pain to a certain degree, as if it were loaded with tobacco. He would often gently push a needle into his skin until it brought just a bit of blood, and he loved the pleasurable sensation. Or when the rain would come slapping against the ground, others would go running for shelter - but not him. He simply let the rain hit him with everything it had, drenching every inch of him.  
  
But the sky also held one other greatly desired feeling - loss. The loss of all problems that plagued his mind, no more thoughts of people dying or ideas not working. He simply let himself be.  
  
Tearing through the clouds at a steady pace he began to laugh, feeling as if he were a bird and defying gravity - defying the Planet.  
  
*  
  
"God dammit, President! We can't put this problem off for now. It will have to be dealt with immediately! Otherwise, Gods only knows what will happen. But we can't act without wisdom, either." She was yelling across the table, her rage building. "I stand for the fucking science department - and you know what I say? Blow the damned thing to Hell!  
  
"If we were to release liquid nitrogen in all the nessecary spots it could be stopped immediately, and we would blow it up!"  
  
Reeve considered this for a few moments before shaking his head. "It's liquid, Professor! You of all people should know you do not - can not - blow it up."  
  
"Then we think of something else!" Her face was going red and she was ready to beat the crap out of Reeve at that very moment.  
  
Across the table two fingers were raised by Malo, Urban Department. "I agree with the Proffesor, sir. If this isn't dealt with immediately it could be quite troublesome. I hear in Mideel it's actually bubbling. And furthermore, it'd give the people a reason to trust us - meaning Hawking would have to lend us the money."  
  
Leaning back into his chair he thought for a few minutes, the room in silence. He was staring out the window at the far end of the room, which displaying magnificent waves slapping the sides of the ShinRa building, and the sun sitting into the waves.  
  
This desicion would ultimately control the lives of thousands of people. He would have to lead his people into safety - nobody else to rely on, just him. That was what being a leader was all about though, right? This would mean if he made a mistake they would all die...  
  
"How long will this take?"  
  
*  
  
After many hours of working on the task, deep into the night, the group had at last come up with a plan everyone had agreed on.   
  
In approximately sixteen hours they would be sending out a platoon of teams into the fray, for three different purposes. Each group, save for the the ones that were being sent to evacuate citizens, would have four scientests, a score of soldiers in case things got hectic, and a further dozen engineers. The evacuation groups would simply have several soldiers.  
  
The first five groups would be carrying their own precious cargo of steel planks, to be used at what they had pinpointed as the most crucial points of the Tainted Lifestream. With them the engineers would have to supervise the digging of great trenches, to make the Lifestream into a visible, flowing river.  
  
The steel planks would then be place all around the lifestream, containing it as best as they could in tubes. Afterwords, explosives would be planted insider or around the planks, to be detonated at a later time.  
  
The next eight groups would be sent to Icicle Inn - four of them to evacuate everyone, and the other four to do the dangerous work. They would be randomly throwing liquid nitrogen around the area - the coldness would take the kinetic energy from the lifestream, making the tainted portion advance at a slower pace. If this part of their mission were to fail, then they were all doomed. Without this the Tainted would advance far too quickly, swallowing victims that were trying to contain it miles away.  
  
After this their job was to 'drill' holes into the ground, using bombs. This was said to help contain the lifestream, said Rebecca, though Reeve could not see how.  
  
After the plan had been decided the President dismissed everyone to alert the press and begin working on the preperations. He sat in the cold, dark room for a time he could not remember. He could have been there for five minutes or five hours.  
  
Cloud... I wish I could be more like you. You always knew what to do - you were strong, nothing like me. I doubt my own judgement, and that may very well be my downfall.  
  
Soon though, we shall see how good of a leader I make. Soon. He felt the urge to reach towards the phone and call someone else, so they could handle it. But his hand remained motionless. This he would have to deal with on his own.  
  
Leaving the room he locked the doors, walking the silent corridors until he made it to a balcony, hidden behind a secret door. Here he lay until morning, but he knew he could see a plane coming in, getting large from the moons light.  
  
*  
  
Tifa groggily opened her chocolate eyes, tired and delirious by the look of it. Her clothes were nearly torn too pieces, and her clothes underneath were revealed to the world. Not that anyone would notice out here...  
  
Where is out here? she thought to herself. Taking in her surroundings she leaned forward. She had been laying on a pile of rocks for a bed, but there didn't seem to be much choice. All around her were huge mountains, covered with stones. Not one blade of grass was in sight.  
  
Yawning she tried her best to fix herself up, but failed miserably. Walking around for the next few minutes she sat up at the top of a shorter mountain, taking in the surroundings.  
  
The mountains were brown and muddy, as if they were mounds of dirt packed tightly together. The sunset held no beauty; it was swirling with murky colors that made it hideous. Which meant she was near Midgar...  
  
She knew of a small town on the other side of this mountain-range, probably about sixty miles over extremely rough terrain. But there were paths twisting in and out of the mountains, so she could probably make it in about four days.   
  
*  
  
Cloud gazed out from the mountains, seeing the rockier ground ahead of him - bound to give a hard journey.  
  
He had emerged a bit further to the north than he would have liked, but he knew it wouldn't matter all that much in a few days. From here Junon was about two days ride if he set out hard. Seko warked as he climed the rocks, going at a steady walking pace.  
  
The black feathers were heating the chocobo up, Cloud could tell. And though he pitied what the creature would have to go through, he knew there was no choice in the matter. Problems like these didn't solve themselves.  
  
He took out the sword with his left arm again, beginning to get the feel for it. Although his right arm would be healed by the time he made it to the apprentice, it would be at its weakest and it wasn't a good idea to rely on it.  
  
Taking a couple of practice swings, he urged Seko forward. At a fast gallop Cloud came swinging the sword around his head. Forgive me, dear creature. The sword met with the neck of a monster that had been grazing near by.  
  
The blood drew a thin line across his cheek.  
  
*  
  
The long pathways were very nearly silent in the deep velvety night, occasional light flickering the stone walls. The only noise in the whole of Cosmo Canyon was the nearly noiseless clapping of one particular creatures paws.  
  
Nanaki's head began to sway, tired with the headaches that had been robbing his mind of rational thinking lately. He soon emerged from the pathway going from his grandfathers home and was drawing near to the fire, each flame eerily holding a poisonous purple-black tint to it. It had been a bad omen and most were now frightened.  
  
Nanaki however knew the problem. He was scared out of his mind. The Planet had been sending such roars of pain and agony his way recently he had not yet gotten a wink of sleep all week. Though it may have been hard for humans to notice he had huge bags under his eyes.  
  
His tattoo was hurting, too. It had never been a common thing to happen to the wolf-beast, but in some circumstances it began to throb as if it were burning. At first it was only when he neared Hojo - but soon enough it ached twice as much everytime Sephiroth had come near.  
  
The fact it was hurting now, at the same time as the flames having gone wrong, and the Planet screaming in agony was no coincidence.  
  
There was no true secret to the symbol - it had simply been put in (rather roughly) as any other tattoo probably would have been. Perhaps it was because Hojo had been attempting those tests on him...  
  
A white light flashed through his head and he stopped thinking of that. Every time he tried to recall those memories his head ached, and they never came to him. It didn't ache as it did when the Planet screamed to him - rather it seemed to be trying to recall something that had never happened.  
  
This was mostly kept under control so he had never thought anything of it.  
  
Panting as he neared the fire, Nanaki lay on the ground and mumbled in his deep relaxation. The Planet had reached an eerie silence. The calm before the storm... Is it simply any creature that has the abilities to improve their life deserves to die? Or did Fate have something else up their sleeve?  
  
As soon as he had fallen asleep it was as if he was immediately awakened. The Planets scream was horrible - a high pitched squealing of pain, as if a needle had been dug into its heart. Nanaki's head swung towards the fire and for a fleeting moment he had almost been positive there was a face there.  
  
  
Authors Notes: The delay on this chapter was due to sheer laziness. I'm too damned tired of always working on this computer (trying to fix it and burn CDs, mostly). I was soooo sick of it I couldn't stand staring at the screen long enough to write the last two scenes, as short as they were.  
  
I've finally figured out how I can fit Nanaki into the plot, and personally I think it's a brilliant idea. Can't wait till I get to it. Anyway, I expect the chapters to be up at more regular times - perhaps one a week? But I'm not positive since I kind of hit a major break through in my life now.  
  
I always used to be depressed and never wanted to go out. Something snapped in me the other day after I hit a real deeply depressed mood (phew, NEVER listen to The Ataris or some Blink 182 songs when depressed).  
  
In case you haven't been able to tell yet I like to try and be friends with my readers. So if you want to chat with me or anything my MSN name is ShadowJake07@hotmail.com and my main AIM name is MiKeZTrailMiX.  
  
Okay, I just sort of realized that despite I wanted to make this fic more professional I've been leaving out disclaimers. Well, I'll put them in when I review my own work (I don't usually like reading my own stuff cause its obviously a bit famaliar).  
  
R+R if you love me and want me to update more often. Or flame me. I like flames. Um, C'Yaz! 


	4. Part Four

Chapter Four  
  
  
Two Alorian students walked through the wooded area smiling at one another as they laughed, an odd sort of peace set in their hearts. They knew in this place no harm would ever come to them. Rather, they thought they did.  
  
"You know Michelle, I saw that cute boy looking at you again today..." The girl walking next to her began to blush. "I think you should ask him out."  
  
"No... He wouldn't want to anyway."  
  
"Well, if you dooooon't I guess I'll have to for you!" the girl blurted and took out a small phone.  
  
"NO!" Michelle leapt onto her and the two rolled a few feet away. When the threatening phone-wielding girl looked to Michelle she could see a blank face, simply staring with a far away look.  
  
"Michelle?"  
  
"L-Look behind you..." The two girls then screamed and ran away.  
  
*  
  
Tifa stumbled down onto her knees, trying to get a clear picture of where she was, as difficult as it was. Faint screams were fading away and she realized that must have been the person who had landed on her.  
  
Rays of light dotted through the illuminous green trees and wild buds sprouted in the oddest places, as rare as they were. Vines went along the dirt path like a snake carefully placed in just the right place.  
  
The over-all effect was quite spooky.  
  
She slowly began to recall how she came to be here - a painful experience to say the least. It was like a stabbing white light firing through her skull, hitting everything in it's path until at last it found what it had been looking for.  
  
There had been some sort of attack... Yes, that was it. It hadn't been anything major.  
  
Tifa levelled herself to the height of the dozen imps surrounding her, just to stare each one of them in the eye. In that very moment she could see the fear so obviously displayed on their faces - they were looking at Death.  
  
And then she was gone. Her feet began to burn at the incredible speed of which she moved, but she brought her hand up in an uppercut, palm still open. The imp landed several feet away, blood dripping away from his/her mouth.  
  
The others around her began to move away, now frightened of this woman whom had looked so helpless moments ago.  
  
But before she had a chance to deal with the miserable creatures someone else had a different idea. One of the frightened imps about to run from Tifa suddenly bursted open, his blood flying from his stomach as jaws emerged. The entire body crumbled as a wolf far too large for the hole shot through it, his shiny coat covered in blood.  
  
It was a massacre. All the imps were suddenly losing limbs, heads, or simply having holes gaping in their sides. Wild, high-pitched screaming was everywhere and Tifa felt the urge to weep at the sight of it.  
  
Then there was no more screaming, no more cries of pain or help. She found herself surrounded by what appeared to be twenty wolves. They all had glossy black coats of fur and were absolutely huge - nearly as tall as her shoulders level was. They didn't bare their teeth at her or growl. They simply began to close in on her.  
  
"Oh no you don't." She took two steps before moving too fast for the vision of any normal being. When they didn't move any more she thought she did indeed move too fast for their eyes. But when her fist, even covered with the amazing glove, connected with the first wolf she realized why they hadn't felt threatened.  
  
It had been hitting like a brick wall. But Tifa could do that. It was like punching a diamond wall. So incredibly tough it felt like nothing could pierce it. The wolf merely moved back about a foot or so from the impact.  
  
"I have more strength than that, dickhead." So another punch hit it, followed by another then more came, followed by kicks. She finally finished off the barrage of hits by doing a roundhouse kick, catching it in the neck and sending it an easy dozen feet away - dead.  
  
The others had been quite suprised by the strength of this human but they showed no sign of it. They merely continued to close in on her.  
  
"By the Gods may you burn in hell!" her arm made a swift movement as the words were said, and she saw they still showed no fear. One of the wolves jumped up and bit her arm, forcing the spell down for now. They weren't afraid, even if it had killed them all they wouldn't have screamed. She could see that now.  
  
They all disappeared. Trails of black blurs moved around her at such a pace even she could not keep up. She turned, fixing her posture into a battle technique and waited for the attack to come. At last a thin paw dug a shallow cut in her back. She wailed a bit, but then a second shallow cut marked itself on her chest. Then her legs were being attacked, and some had even dared to go for the arms.  
  
It would now be obvious to anyone she was being toyed with, but Tifa was too stubborn to admit defeat to anything breathing. Her arm cut across swiftly once again and a raging inferno of molten lava tore through four of the wolves.  
  
So, they have a weakness! She smiled as she prepared another spell. The feeling of power began to swell in her mind until she could no longer control it, and a barrier of fire surrounded her, appearing from thin air.  
  
Six of the wolves were unlucky enough to be diving at her at that very moment and they all hit the barrier, then slid across the ground roasted.  
  
Nine more were now remaining, and they waited patiently far away from the fire. They looked quite a bit like Nanaki. They're going to wait for the shield to die! I have to get away NOW! Keeping the shield up as best as she could she began to run.  
  
It was not as easy as one may think. A shield will not travel to wherever you go - you have to move it yourself. So keeping track of the shield moving at her exact pace she was only paying half a mind to the running bit.  
  
This was how she emerged from the edge of a cliff, rolling down a mountainside with her shield having failed. The wolves came leaping after her, and with more grace they managed to run down the hill. And just as the first two caught up with her she kicked off from her back and back-flipped all the way down the remainded of the hill.  
  
The two stopped for a moment then Tifa reached two fingers for her temple. They began to glow a not very normal color before a wave of fire flew over all the wolves.  
  
From there she stumbled along to the nearby forest, praying it was the town she had been searching for.  
  
*  
  
A group of seven men had at last decided to go and see this so-called 'moster attack', as the two girls had yelled as they ran towards the town.  
  
Alore had a great barrier casted over it so that most people tended to miss the town. Their eyes would sort of shift and notice something else, away from the forest the town was in. It was in this way animals and humans had never come here for long. The last person was a young explorer dozens of years ago, whom decided to live with the natives.  
  
The grandson of this man had pleaded to go with the group of men. Though they had decided that a mere fourteen year old child should not see a monster they had decided to let him when he brought up the fact he was the only person in Alore who could use a sword besides his grandfather, whom was far too old to go.  
  
The group of eight slowly made their way down to the 'monster', all a bit nervous. Except for the child prancing about with the sword. A real fight! FINALLY!  
  
He continued to swing the blade at nearby trees and vines, until at last he was told to stop. "Ken! Stop that this instant!" The boys head fell, a bit disappointed.  
  
From the little information gathered here you may have guessed that Ken is a bit 'different' from the other villagers. He and his twin sister Kia both also carried physical traits that none other in the village did. They had black hair and dark brown eyes, with a naturally tanned skin that shone like a golden light. They had tall forms that were both athletic and incredibly strong at the same time, as if millions of strands of muscle were packed tightly together.  
  
They also enjoyed to fight. That was said to be a trait inherited by their grandfather. But no matter who was laid the blame the love of the adrenaline was far too great for them to give it up.  
  
Unfortunately, loving battle and living here made that love hard to please.  
  
Mostly Kia and he would fight one another, or practice magic and new techniques. Their grandfather often taught them certain things, seeing as how there was no-one else who could. Their father hadn't liked battle at all and didn't resemble their grandfather at all - he had died when they were just children. Their mother soon killed herself too.  
  
So it was at this point they begun to live with their grandfather, and to live the art of battle.  
  
"Okay Ken, be careful when we get there. We don't want you to get hurt - your grandfather would kill us if that were to happen. If things get too extreme you can use that... blade... of yours." Weapons were strongly disapproved of in the village, but it had been passed down to Ken from his grandfather so it had gone without much disapproval of the natives.  
  
They soon found the 'monster' that had been said to attack the two girls.  
  
Ken suddenly felt stupid for ever thinking it was a monster. It was a small, shredded body lying in the dirt, blood drenching their clothes.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Should we poke it?"  
  
"Maybe its a wolf!"  
  
"Nah, too small to be one!"  
  
Ken couldn't believe it - these adults couldn't recognize a person. "It's a woman you idiots! Carry her back!" The men stood astonished - no child talked to adults like that. One investigated the woman before looking back at everyone a bit red.  
  
"Yep. Definitely a woman..." The other men took steps back, expecting Ken to do something since he was about the only one not embarassed.  
  
"Oh for the love of the Gods. Give me your jacket, Mr. Bailey." The man threw it over to the boy and he wrapped the woman in it before lifting her up by her armpits. "Someone give me a hand. Look, she's dressed now! See?"   
  
A couple of the other men came over to help, before telling Ken to run ahead and make preparations. Better than nothing I guess. Picking up his sword from the ground where he had to discard it a few minutes ago he slid it in his belt before running down the path.  
  
When he reached the main part of Alore he ran past all the people gaping at him, until he reached the clinic. He dove through the doors at a remarkable pace and onyl just didn't slam into the doctor.  
  
"Young Ken, what seems to be the hurry?"  
  
Attempting to catch his breath he began to speak. "Well... you see, we found the... the monster... It was a woman... I think... I think she's nearly dead sir... Lots of..." he took a deep breath. "Lots of cuts, and I think she's broken both legs. Probably major blood loss and infections."  
  
"I... see. When will the others get here?"  
  
"Just a few more minutes, I imagine. Ten, tops."  
  
"Come. Help me prepare for the visitor."  
  
*  
  
Though it had most definitely been a long rest that had been hours - days, even - Tifa's eyes fluttered open groggily with a deep laziness. She knew the feeling - it was the one that you get when one day you have two hours of sleep, and the next day you get fifteen hours of sleep. It made you tired as hell.  
  
But she was pretty sure she had had a long sleep the night before? Confused she began to try and set up - at this point she noticed two things.  
  
The first was that she was in a bed. A warm, fluffy bed. With a pillow. Meaning she was in a home, or a building - probably a fire nearby. That could be either a good or bad thing. And judging from the second thing she noticed, it would be a bad thing.  
  
For the second thing she noticed was that she had been tied to the bed, not tight enough to hurt her but tight enough to keep escape out of the question.  
  
Not to Tifa Lockheart, though. Nothing was out of the question to these fierce fighter. She turned her wrist around painfully before catching the rope on a specific part of her gloves (Gods only knew how long they had been on). She jerked her hand quickly and the rope snapped. She moved towards the one across her other hand but a light touched stopped her.  
  
"You shouldn't be doing that."  
  
Tifa spun around and sent a punch towards where the sound had come from. The man simply ducked and let the fist fly over his head. "You perverted bastard, if you've done anything what-so-ever to me you'll burn in hell! You hear me?!"  
  
The man smiled, and Tifa suddenly noticed his face. His thinning, silver hair showed signs of a deep ageing. His soft blue eyes held no violence or impurity in them. "Do not fret. You're privacy has been assured."  
  
"Who are you?! And why am I tied down?"  
  
The man smiled as he shook his head slowly. "You may call me Rock - I am a healer of sorts. You are in my clinic and have been for the past week and a half. Eleven days, if I recall correctly.  
  
"You have been tied down because we were unsure of whether or not you were a threat to our people. And though I can see your power is by far the hugest threat we've had in decades, I can also see you are no threat."  
  
Tifa thought all this through for a few minutes. "Eleven days? Damn... That can't be too good. If you could just let me stay here a couple of more days I'll be out of your way soon enough, okay?"  
  
"I'm afraid it'll be longer than that. You will be staying here for many weeks for your legs to heal. You have broken the right one in four places, and the left one is badly sprained." Tifa suddeny felt the urge to break that thin, stretched face, as kind as it was.  
  
"I... I need to go soon though!"  
  
"Not anytime soon, you don't." Before she could mutter another word, his hands traced her face and she fell into a deep, blissful sleep.  
  
Nearby at the doorway Ken stood, staring at Tifa longingly. He had never really had a crush before - he'd been out with girls, but none had he ever really liked. But Tifa, as beautiful as she already was, looked like an angel in his sight there.  
  
There was another thing he found intriguing about her.  
  
She was taller than the girls here, and her limbs were athletic yet strong. She also had a tan that seemed to shine a golden color. She was from his grandfathers home.  
  
*  
  
It had now been two days, and though Cloud had not been pushing Seko at all he found himself close to Junon. But something was blocking his path - somehting that shouldn't be there at all.  
  
Lurking far above the other small patches of forests that usually surrounded this land was a gigantic forest. There was really no other way to describe it.  
  
The trees all looked mostly the same - they were a rich red color and they were at least a hundred and fifty feet tall. Only at about the last fifteen feet or so did the bright green leaves sprout from it, so thick and clouded it looked like level ground at the top of those.  
  
They were packed so tightly together it was obviously intentional and nature could never do something so obvious. It was man-made. Only about a ten foot gap in the center of the forest line showed a path avaible to walk through. The gap was filled with a hard-packed dirt and stones dotted, all in the same exact position as if it had been done in tiles.  
  
About two feet from each side knee-high bushes of the same bright green of the leaves ran along the path, clearly marking to not touch the trees (could the consequences be dire? wondered Cloud).  
  
The low, thick mist surrounding the place gave an aroma that he rather enjoyed. There was no word for it, but it was the smell of the fresh daisies in the wind and the grass gently swaying as drops of water still trickled down them - it was the smell after rain.  
  
It was a beautiful aroma that made the mind settle, come to a peaceful place.  
  
In this enviroment, right here, it sickened Cloud. It most definitely did not belong here.  
  
But no matter - this was without a doubt where he would meet the Apprentice. Taking a few steps, leading Seko carefully, he stepped into the mist. As it closed over his body he could feel a great loss taken from him.  
  
His sword, hefted in his left hand in front of him, suddenly felt lighter. Glancing at it briefly he noticed it had several gray stones in it.  
  
"SHIT!" They had taken the materia. That was indeed the purpose of this mist - to take all the magical energy it could. Otherwise it would be impossible to keep a forest like this in existence. It took a great amount of magic for even simple tricks.  
  
"Damn... Come on Seko, let's hurry this up. It's so cold out here, with no materia." He jogged towards the forest and when he reached the path the trees behind him closed in.  
  
That would not, however, be a proper way of saying it. They were put there as if they should have always been there - they didn't run around to close him, they were placed there hundreds of years ago just now. It made sense in the scariest way anything could ever make sense.  
  
This left Cloud in entire darkness. He could have used his own energy to manifest some sort of lamp or something, but he preferred to keep all avaible energy for the upcoming battle.  
  
"Seko, your eyes are keen here, right?" The bird gave an energetic nod. "Good - you'll be leading us. I can't see a damned thing." Sliding the sword into its place he put his injured hand onto the large bird and was led deeper into this enchanted forest.  
  
*  
  
Cid threw his cigarette down, peering towards the horizon with some kind of odd emotion. It wasn't quite fear, nor anxiety or hope. It was a mixture of all those, struggling to beat one another.  
  
He turned to his trainer pilot and gave a nod, letting the man take over the flying for now. He walked down to the meeting room where most of the men were gathered.  
  
This was the part where the courageous captain or leader would talk about how it had all come down to this, and that if they believed in themselves nothing could stop them. This would be the part of which the teams morale was raised higher than Heaven, and every man felt like he himself was a God. This would be the part where victory was assured.  
  
That is, that would happen if they had anyone leading the mission besides Captain Cid Highwind. Cid had always used a different method. He made them feel like such scum and losers that even if they did fail they wouldn't notice.  
  
"So you should know how this goes, you lazy sacks of shit, or else you're paying paid for absolutely nothing at all. 'Cause if you DON'T know what we're doin' down here we may as well fuckin' blow this joint and all get laid, eh?  
  
"Well, just in case you don't know what the hell we're doin' here, lemme tell ya'. Since the other groups have now gotten all the residents outta this place we gonna go have ourselves a little pyromaniac fun. In other words, we blow the hell out of the place with dynamite, followed by dippin' this piss-colored stuff around the place? Or vice versa, or somethin'. You hear me, bitches?"  
  
A couple of the men whom had never served under Cid before were a bit hesitant to say anything, but half-mumbled they muttered 'yes sir' while everyone else shouted, "YES SIR!" And of course there was always one, who couldn't resist it and said, "Of course, you dickhead!"  
  
Cid smiled and they moved out.  
  
While everyone else began to prepare (placing on boots that would insure they didn't slip and would be discarded before re-entering the ship, getting 'water guns' to shoot out the liquid nitrogen, etc) Cid walked back to the top of the ship, overlooking the edge.  
  
This was what it did all come down to, though. Whether or not he wanted to admit it, if they failed right here they were all going to be royally screwed.  
  
Hopefully the fuck-ups know what to do. As he watched, the 'water guns' from the deck launched high-powered hoses that drenched Icicle Inn. The snow that was nearby melted at a rapid pace, and quickly enough there were men rushing about, yelling out something before throwing dynamite. Probably their current location or something.  
  
While they did this the remaining scientists dumped even more liquid nitrogen into the main water supplies of Icicle Inn - sewers, pipes, wells, anything.  
  
Within minutes there were great trenchess dug into the ground, forced there by the dynamite. Cid looked into the milky depths of the purple-black liquid sloshing back and forth. At times like these memories always did tend to return. But no more living in the past.  
  
He took the radio that was clipped to his belt and pressed the button down. "Highwind here, sir. With twelve minutes remaining we have completed all the preparations. Next move, sir? Over."  
  
"Bzzt... Loud 'n' clear, Highwind. ...Bzzt... Have those men out of there in five. Over. ...Bzzt..." Cid placed the radio down at his belt before yelling out 'FIVE MINUTES' to everyone.  
  
*  
  
The ground slowly quaked as spurts of oily, black liquid shot into the air from the newly appearing cracks. The ice began to fall apart in places, sinking into the deep violet.  
  
Suddenly, as the explosions sounded off, fire roaring into the sky for miles and smoke billowing off, the Tainted Lifestream hissed. Smoke came from its surface, as if itself had been a living creature. It immediately began flying the opposite way, somehow now causing more to jump from the cracks, changing its shape as it moved.  
  
More bombs detonated alongside of it as it swished back to its home, causing the hissing screech to be heard by even Cid Highwind. The high-pitched wailing seemed wrong, evil. It rushed back into the northern crater, where lightening and dark energy reigned supreme. Once again, like a living creature, it rose up for what must have been three or so miles, and with a hissing screech, exploded.  
  
The gooey substance was thrown across the entire continent but a brilliant white flashing could be seen all across the globe. Not from the fire nor the explosion, but something else. Something they hadn't been expecting. Cid threw his cigarette down at it, deciding to give up smoking.  
  
Thousands of miles away Reeve realized he had made what was probably there greatest mistake of his life, and began to weep.  
  
*  
  
Nanaki had already been travelling north, towards Costa del Sol, when he had seen the explosion. His head raised, and for a fleeting moment all hope was lost in his eyes.  
  
Howling at the moon once he began to move once again. Like the humans, we have never known the meaning of defeat! There was still that small feeling of defeat, hidden deep in his head.  
  
  
Authors Notes: Wow! I actually do something! In one day! Woo!  
  
Anyway, I don't have too much to say right now. Yes, Ken and Kia will be main characters. Yes, Alore now has a much larger part in this fic than originally intended. As does Nanaki, Danny, Marlene, and Vincent (though he has not yet been introduced, and I'm not too sure what to do with him, he's too cool to have a minor part).  
  
If you have any suggestions EMail Offspringrulz86@aol.com. Also, if you know the traits of each character such as hair color, eye color, height, clothing, etc it would be greatly appreciated since I have an awful memory.  
  
If you do by any chance read this fic, please do review. It makes me happier just knowing people read this, and I love to be deeply criticized.  
  
C'Yaz! 


	5. Part Five

Chapter Five  
  
In the dark, mystical night one figure crept along the shadows at an alarming rate, their bare feet slapping the cold stones loudly. The rest of his body was covered in dark black, and normally he would also be wearing shoes but he had been in a hurry.  
  
Panting he turned around the corner and waited, trying his best not to breathe - this only made him take deeper gulps. He tried to wipe the sweat from his forehead before realizing he had a mask on. Muttering her ripped it off, shoving it inot a large pocket. Sandy hair fell in long locks, framing his gentle face. Energetic green eyes seemed to glow from within, but not as a SOLDIERs eyes would glow - he was simply energetic.  
  
He lay against the wall, wondering how he could have been seen. After breaking into the richest mans house he had stolen all the jewels he'd need for the rest of his life. But on his way out, the mans wife had come out to see what was happening.  
  
That had been his downfall.  
  
She was so beautiful, with golden hair that fell freely to her waist, and a pale, porcelain doll skin. She had a great body and a face of an angel. He simply could not resist it - he had foribly taken her.  
  
While she had been moaning in deep pleasure the husband had come out, and, seeing the man raping his beloved wife, he called for the guards. Losing them was easy enough, but he could sense someone was still near him.  
  
He finally managed to get a hold on his breathing level, confident he had lost the tracker.  
  
Then a hand suddenly grabbed him around the neck and pulled him up on top of the building he had been leaning against a moment ago. His head came down, hitting the tiles hard and cracking a few.  
  
Wincing he tried to roll away but a single, stable hand took him by the neck, choking the life out of him. He was raised to about the same height as the person, though they were far shorter than him. He was choking, trying to get a hold of his breath.  
  
Their head cocked, and they stared at him curiously, as if measuring him ounce for ounce. Then he was dropped, and while his eyes were closed he could still hear the swish sound as they too dropped down, doing a roundhouse kick. The kick met him in the chest and he flew into the building behind him.  
  
"Wh-who are you?" the thief questioned.  
  
"I..." came a raspy, faked voice. "I am the Guardian." He fell into unconciousness.  
  
*  
  
Around here in Wutai the Guardian was a rather popular tale. He was a man who fought crime for vengeance, his wife having been killed years ago, murdered by an assassin.  
  
From there he had learned to train himself, and learned great techniques from a wise old man. From here he moved into the city, delivering his message with every criminal fought. The police would find them tied up, sometimes with little messages such as 'Lose some wait, I'm tired of doing your work.'  
  
To the police this so called 'Guardian' was simply a joke. It was then that they had decided to challenge the Guardian to a duel.  
  
When the mystery fighter showed up he said he would not fight them one at a time. He demanded to fight them all at once or none at all. The polica force of Wutai were all experienced fighters, knowing in the martial arts. The fact one person claimed to be able to take them all one at once was ridiculous.  
  
Yet they had gone through with it. His swiftness was unsurpassed, the moves being danced like a practiced art, each movement carrying a seed of life, their soul pouring into every step and punch or kick.  
  
The Guardian had not taken a single hit. And he had never been challenged since then. However, today that would be changed.  
  
Another interesting fact was that the Guardian wasn't even male.  
  
*  
  
Reno sat at the table, washing his mouth down with as much beer as he could fir in it and more. Elena near by sipped at her tea, as did Rude with his one beer.   
  
The tavern was darker and dustier than most, and devoid of life. Cobwebs were in the corners, clutching to doors and chairs too. Only one drunkard was in here, and of course the barkeeper.  
  
"This job is an insult to us!" Elena said under her breath, but loud enough for the other two Turks to hear anyway.  
  
"Elena, as lame of a job as it may be it is still our job to do it. Don't forget - we're still being paid." Reno downed another mouthful after the sentence. They were currently on an escort mission. He tolerated almost anything - assassinations, massacres, treasure-finding, etc. But for the first time in his career he was on an escort mission.  
  
Although it did have some importance in it he still felt a bit downplayed. They were to be watching the vice president of Hawking Enterprises, a young, rich man who lived at the edge of Wutai. This was to assure he did not try anything to ruin their Tainted Lifestream mission, and as Reeves had said it, it was a 'vital job that must be done by skilled individuals such as yourselves'.  
  
Bullshit. He just doesn't have the balls to fire us, so he's looking for extra work we can do. No matter how non-vital the Turks were to the business they still mantained a highly 'respected' occupation, mostly by giving cold glances at everyone who came near them.  
  
"Come on, let's get going." They all pitched in some money and walked out of the bar, the baking sun falling onto them like a sack of... well, Reno had a severe lack of imagination, so to him it was like a sack with a baking hot sun in it.  
  
He began to whistle. Rude and Elena soon wanted to kill the immature Turk, the noise aggravating them to such a great degree Elena thought she could hear her mind dying.  
  
Then at last the noise had stopped, cut off in a particularly high-pitched note. When the two turned around to Reno it wasn't hard to see the man was gone. Instead, shifting their gaze, they could see him chasing down a kid who was making off with his wallet.  
  
Both followed in pursuit, as much as they didn't wish to, and when they caught up with Reno he was just now getting to the child in a closed valley.  
  
Reno took a leap forwards and tripped the kid, spinning afterwards. In one hand he caught his wallet and with the other he pinned the small boy against the wall. "Damn I made that cool looking," he said with an arrogant smile.  
  
The 'cool' effect was completely destroyed when a shadow dropped from a ledge, a foot connecting to Reno's face, destroying his face. Dropping to their hands the barrage of attacks that followed all connected with equal power and presicion. It wasn't just a fighting technique - it was an art, practiced to perfection.  
  
Reno, laying against the wall, wiped the blood slipping from his mouth onto his sleeve. Slowly standing up he used the wall to keep balance. "And just who the hell do you think you are? Messing with a Turk can get a person killed, you know..."  
  
The ninja-warrior's face, like their body, was completely covered except for her eyes. But it was still apparent they were smiling. "BITCH!" Reno charged forward with a fist swinging from overhead towards their face, but it went just an inch overhead as they ducked. The ninja was quite suprised when Reno was smart enough to drop down himself, her first kick going under him and second one above him.  
  
The ninja stuck their foot to Reno's side and launched themself away from him, their legs kicking to the side so they were stuck onto opposite walls of the alley.  
  
"Hmph. Amateur stuff."  
  
Elena, standing away from the fight, wasn't quite too sure what she had just heard, but it sounded like a giggle. "Hey Rude." The mans attention swung from the fight to her. "Recognize her? Look at her eyes."  
  
The buff man admired the ninja for a few moments. "She was in Cloud's little group." It was a plain statement, no emotion inside of it. Rude had always been the one to be the strong, silent type.  
  
"Yeah, Yuffie Kisaragi. Her father owns this town, or something like that. Wonder what she's doing out her becoming a crime-fighter?" When the blonde received no response, she noticed Rude was once again silent. "What happened to the kid?"  
  
She could have sword she saw a slight grin as his hand moved, the small boy held in his hand. His small, baby features were frightened and he was almost sure he was about to be killed.  
  
"Hand the wallet over and leave." Rude dropped him, and when the child managed to get back up he tossed her the wallet, the bowed in gratitude before running off.  
  
Behind them they could hear him screaming to everyone something about a fight between the Turks and the Guardian.  
  
Reno ducked by one punch, a second only just dodged by pure luck, but the third caught him in the chest. His eyes widening in shock he flew into the wall, a few cracks appearing from the heavy impact. Luckily, dust also came with the impact, and the ninja was momentarily blinded.  
  
Dropping from the wall their next punch hit the wall, forming a hole in it. Laughing, Reno leaped towards them and his punch slammed into her stomach. His elbow dropped onto their face and he brought his leg back, sending a powerful kick into their side.  
  
The attacker was weakened, coughing on the ground and signs of blood seeping through the black attire. Crowds that had gathered in the alley were booing him, but he didn't matter.  
  
"SO!" he yelled out in a clear voice, signalling all to be quiet. "WHO'S THIS PESKY LITTLE PERSON, THINKING THEY CAN DEFEAT ME?"  
  
The members of the crowd glanced at one another, a bit unsure of what to say. If they were to say something like 'the Guardian of Wutai' they'd look stupid, having their best fighter defeated by a Turk.  
  
"I'm your worst nightmare, bitch." The first words ever spoken by the Guardian in public sounded a bit off. Not quite as masculine as they had all hoped they would have been. But what followed was perfect. Reno's legs were both gripped tightly, and with the power that the Guardian rose he fell downwards, his head slamming the ground because of his height advantage over them.  
  
Then Reno was flying through the air, slamming into the wall back-first. "You will no longer attack mere children, got it? If I catch you doing anything wrong again, then you'll die."  
  
"Hey," he grumbled, "get back... here... already..." He fell backwards, passed out.  
  
*  
  
Cid could feel his body falling onto the wooden table, shifting the balance and forcing all its contents into the air, splashing across the room. He wasn't quite aware of it though, as his laughter rang throughout the room. "The PINEAPPLE did it?! HOLY SHIT! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"  
  
Cid's face was now turning red from laughter mixed with the whole woozy drunk effect he was feeling. Shera was the coolest drunk person ever, he decided. Rather, he was drunk enough to decide so.  
  
After a few more minutes of his hysterical laughing he stopped, putting a serious face on. "Okay... I got one here... Why did the chocobo cross the road?"  
  
"WHO GIVES A DAMN?!" Shera blurted out, her glass of beer slipping from her hands as the two fell into eachother, unable to resist the laughter.  
  
The others inside the bar had already moved as far away from the couple as they could. They had never before seen 'old people' drunk, and were now quite frightened of the prospect. It was like it was contagious - if they got any closer to the drunkards then they may begin to act stupid.  
  
Though the barkeeper was also a bit frightened of the two he was making a fortune off of them, and they hadn't even noticed when he decided to raise the prices of their drinks.  
  
After the mission had been said to be successful and Cid had returned to Junon with the remaining groups they had been greeted with a parade. People from all over the world had been gathering in Junon for the yearly festival as it was, and this mission had created such joy people had begun celebrating a week early.  
  
People in the streets were running naked, cheering on top of eachothers shoulders, and some were even on the beta versions of ShinRa's hover-scooters (a few hundred had been signed up to test them).  
  
The crowds were going mad at every glance of someone from ShinRa, but when they had seen President Reeve exit the main building it was pure ectasy. Reeve had to assign himself a dozen bodyguards just to insure none of the madmen came near him. People were stacked on top of eachother in fives or sixes, just so they could get a glance at him.  
  
Cid was as happy as could be when he saw Shera among the crowd of people at the airport, smiling as she jumped in joy. The two had escaped the crowds and went to the closest bar to celebrate. Where they currently were - scaring even the drunk people.  
  
Motioning for more beers to be sent to them (Cid had doubts he could walk those ten feet and stay concious) he pulled out another fifty gil for the waiter.  
  
The waiter slowly came closer to the couple, until at last he threw the beer-glasses down, swiped the money from Cid, and dove away from the table. It may have looked pretty silly to some of the customers who had just come in, but the others had seen what happened when the waiter didn't move fast enough. One of the people had actually fainted when that had happened.  
  
Taking careful aim to get the beer into his mouth, Cid accidently splashed the beer into his jacket. "Aw man!" Looking around for something to wipe the beer away he forgot what he was looking for and tried some of the beer.  
  
"Hee hee hee... Look at those two mongooses!" Before Cid even turned to see what Shera was pointing at he erupted into laughter, spilling the remaining beer left onto the floor. When he did turn around he noticed a couple of the scientists wearing ShinRa pins approaching him.  
  
"Aw shit! What are you fuckers doin' here? I'm a bit BUSAY!"  
  
The first of the scientists - a short, scrawny man - mildly spoke up. "Well, um, sir, you see, uh..."  
  
"SPIT IT OUT!" Shera screamed.  
  
"Well... It seemed the mission wasn't, er, a total, uh, success." He added with hesitation, "Uh, sir."  
  
Cid's head suddenly dropped, and the people inside the bar thought and hoped he had suddenly died from alchohol poisoning (they had bets on when it would happen). Just as the second scientist reached to tap his shoulder his head jerked upwards, smiling. "BET YA CAN'T SAY THAT THREE TIMES FAST!"  
  
"...Sir, though we realize you're drunk, this is urgent. More important than you getting wasted." The captain suddeny smiled - this second scientist was a whole lot funner.  
  
"Yeah yeah yeah. Just grab my arms and carry me or something." The two ShinRa workers exchanged worried glances before one grabbed his arms, dragging him from the chair. The second took his legs and they marched him towards the door.  
  
Turning to Shera they both gave a bow before marching out with the drunkard.  
  
As the door opened the sound that blasted through was most definitely not expected. Inside the bar it had been silent, save for Cid and Shera's mad hyena laughing of course. Outside a roaring cheer that just didn't seem to end with people going mad.   
  
"Someone's birthday or somethin'?" Cid questioned with conspired eyes.  
  
"Er, no..."  
  
*  
  
The two scientist realized Cid was far too drunk to explain everything to him in his current state, so they had taken him into a room to sleep for a few hours. Though he would still be suffering from an enormous hangover they had no choice.  
  
So the pale-blonde haired man groggily sat up, before falling back down with a shooting pain in his side. "Daaamn... How much did I drink?"  
  
"Too much. Now get up, we need to show this to you now." Cid didn't like being bossed around, but he vaguely remembered being told about something 'urgent'.  
  
Rolling off of the 'bed' built into the wall he hit the ground hard. And naked. His body was completely naked but the chill from the cold floor was what woke him up. "SHIT! Give me some clothes you twisted son of bitches!"  
  
Laughing the braver scientist through over some boxers and shorts. Pulling them on as quickly as he could Cid rushed over to see what the two men were talking about.  
  
The pulled a television set down from the corner so that Cid could see it, and one fiddled with a remote for a few minutes. Suddenly the television erupted into color as it displayed the aftermath of the mission. It wasn't quite what Cid had been expecting.  
  
The land was twisted, brown patches of burnt earth. The ground was literally smoking and the land had been formed into a solid sort of 'sea', meaning it was like a pile of waves put together with the most distorted type of earth that the Gods had in stock. No sign of grass was visible, and the ground mostly just resembled the color it did outside of Midgar. But far, far worse.  
  
Life was neither born nor destroyed here. It seemed to be in a state that shouldn't have existed - life after death. The 'afterlife' was inappropiately named of course, because their could not be life after death. Such a state would defy the means of reality, and possibly have an effect great enough to destroy everything in existence.  
  
But the state here had no name that could be given - it was birth, death, afterlife, destruction, beauty, and everything else that could be created. It was so distorted from reality it didn't even look realistic.  
  
"What happened here...?" Cid asked through misty eyes. This had not at all been intended. They had wanted to help the Planet, not destroy it.  
  
"This is a very complicated issue... Let's just say this all began three years ago. Sephiroth, killed by your group of friends..." The public had been told that ShinRa had destroyed Sephiroth and Jenova, so few people knew the truth. "...obviously fell into the lifestream along with his mother, Jenova. The combined effect of two such pure souls of evil should have simply meant nothing would happen.  
  
"However, we believe Sephiroth must have had some good in him. Two souls, telepathically linked, should always remain in the same state of purity. Otherwise the effects may be drastic. In this case their link grew stronger, reaching out and grabbing other souls to become like themselves. As it was, all souls currently coursing through that area of the lifestream became Tainted.  
  
"The problem only begins there, however. Up there was where we believed for the Promised Land to have existed... Meaning, the Ancients and other souls within the area all became a part of the link. This may not mean much right now, but let's show you a different area of the destruction..."  
  
Fiddling with the remote once again, the picture changed. Here, the land was like liquid, still writhing around as if it were dying... Or giving birth, Cid told himself. Bodies were raising from the discolored land, screaming with agony before collapsing back into the stream of destruction.  
  
They were creating life.  
  
"You see... we sort of released those souls. That was okay though, because a soul with no body is useless. However, because we believe the Promised Land to be there, there was a lot of Elemental Energy."  
  
Cid tried to recall everything he knew about magic at this point. Materia was in most cases Ancients' knowledge stored inside of stones that had been formed from Elemental Energy. He knew he could go more in depth on this and work out his theory, but he decided he would do that later.  
  
"There is one materia that uses Elemental Energy. It is called Morph, and it can basically shift one creation of life or even inanimate objects into something it desires, or needs. So, you see... The land up there is being morphed... into bodies."  
  
"Fucking hell..." Cid muttered.  
  
"We're not quite sure what this means for the time being, but there is no doubt it will literally be Hell on the Planet. Imagine Sephiroth, Jenova, and every Ancient to have ever existed on the Planet all attacking. The pure evil with disrupt the Monsters way of life, and we may end up with having to deal with them as well. Do you understand all this?"  
  
Cid didn't have to nod, or say anything. He just continued to stare at the television set.  
  
*  
  
Tifa began to wheel herself onwards, basking in the great beauty of wildlife out here in this great land. She felt so alive out here, so free of the bonds that tied her to life back in Kalm.  
  
The town was connected by paths that all connected to Town Center, where all the shops were laid. The paths were like the one she had been found on - tall, beautiful trees and snake-like vines with beautiful shrubs dotted by magestic, colorful buds. A light mist sometimes hung around, but it was not the mysterious, bad omen mist - it was a sign of beauty.  
  
This was her first day she would be allowed outside of the clinic, and she was both happy and nervous, so contradicted. She was a bit afraid that she would not be accepted by these magnificent people.  
  
As she was nearing Town Center she could see a young boy and girl on the path. As she slowly approached she could see they were fighting, most definitely something she had not been expecting to see from a pacifist town.  
  
They both had coal-black hair that swayed in the wind, their dark brown eyes energetic and alive, loving the battle. Unlike the few people she had seen from this village so far they had a tan, much like her own. While she had lived in Midgar she didn't have a tan, but, being from Nibelheim, she could naturally tan after short periods of time outside.  
  
One boy had a stick, though it was apparently meant to be a sword (she noted a sword at the edge of the path), while the girl had a thick staff with intricate designs carved into it.  
  
As they worked through their manoevers a voice sounded by Tifa's ear, making her jump. "Great fighters, aren't they?"  
  
Turning around with alarmed eyes she threw a punch at the person but her fist couldn't reach, considering her current state. "AH! Sorry, I thought you were an attacker..." The commotion had made the two children realize she was there.  
  
"No problem. My name is..." He shook his head. "Rain."  
  
"I-I'm Tifa Lockhart. You and those children... You don't look like you're from here."  
  
"That's cause we ain't." Said the boy as he through the stick to the side, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Well, me 'n' Kia are, but my Grandpa there ain't."  
  
The man nodded. Tifa began to peer closer at him. He really didn't look all that old. His face mantained a rather youthful appearence though his hair was all silver. "I came here a long time ago in search for adventure. I'm originally from Nibelheim though."  
  
Tifa jumped back at this, as hard as it was in a wheelchair. "Y-You're from Nibelheim?!"  
  
He posed a twisted grin, as the two children stood at the side, a bit confused and still breathing heavily. The boy couldn't take his eyes off of Tifa."  
  
"Indeed. Though you wouldn't know me, as it is. I may explain that to you sometime later. As for now, where are you heading?"  
  
"Town Center. I wanted to see what this town is like... Though I'll only be here for a few days I'd like to learn as much as I can. Think you could help me out?"  
  
The man thought about this, glancing to his grandchildren. "The boy there is Ken. He can help you out - me and Kia are going out for a few hours to practice some techniques. Ask him anything you want - I can see you're a fighter so there is no need for us to hide anything from you."  
  
"Thanks!" Rain nodded, before gesturing for Kia to follow him. Kia ran after him, giving a short goodbye. "So, Ken... You're a fighter?"  
  
"Yeah! Me and my sis are real good, though most people around here don't like us fighting. You like fighting then?" Tifa smiled. This would be a lot of fun.  
  
*  
  
The day for the Turk Reno hadn't been good at all, and in just a couple of minutes it was going to be getting a whole lot worse for him. While his companions waited at the base of the hill he knocked on the door of the gigantic house.  
  
For a few minutes nothing happened. When he was about to turn and leave the door suddenly began to open. A cop stepped out, wearing some sort of foreign clothing that Reno had never before seen. Unlike the cops of city-life this guy seemed to be wearing a dress, and had a sword at his side, ready to be drawn in an instant. Something about the man made it obvious he was a cop though.  
  
"May I help you?"  
  
Reno cringed. "No... I, uh, think I came at a bad time? I'll just be going then!" He smiled and began to back away, but the cop drew his sword and in an instant it was pricking the Turk's neck.  
  
"What'd you come here for?!"  
  
"N-Nothing! Honest! I'm a Turk!" Reno mentally slapped himself in the forehead. Mentioning his profession to a cop in Wutai probably wouldn't do a lot of good. "Look, I was sent here on a mission today! I mean, a GOOD mission! No killing! Honest!"  
  
The cop warily put the sword away. "Sorry to be a pain in the ass for you, but you'll have to wait until later. Mr. and Mrs. Barker were robbed last night, and the thief took advantage of Mrs. Barker while at it. Since you're so suspicious I think I may have to take you in though."  
  
"What?! NO! I didn't do anything wrong! Sure, I killed a few back in the day, maybe a couple of dozen, but hey - who didn't? I haven't committed a crime in like the last... well, ten minutes or so, BUT THAT WASN'T MY FAULT! And I REALLY paid for that one."  
  
"I'll have to take you in for the night."  
  
"HUH?! No no no! My fellow Turks down there can tell you I had nothing to do with this! So HA!"  
  
"Oh? And where might they be?" Reno turned and looked around for them, before sighing and realizing they had left him here all alone.  
  
Meanwhile at the cafe, Elena sipped on her tea. "Maybe we should've stayed there when that cop came out?"  
  
Rude just shrugged, taking another sip from his beer.  
  
  
Authors Notes: Jeeezus! That chapter shouldn't have taken so long. I just couldn't get past the fight between Reno and the 'Guardian' (bah, we all know who she is, right??) for some reason. Anyway. Bit of a longer chapter.  
  
I like this a lot more than Death Is Only The Beginning. I describe more on this, make it clearer. And those of you who read DotB first may notice in some parts the conversations are pretty much exactly the same. That's cuz there were some things I liked in that fic.  
  
Now... I have some seriously corny shit prepared for Rain *grins* And hopefully the next chapter should be out a lot sooner.  
  
Plz R+R if you love me! Or if ya don't! C'Yaz!  
  
PS Do italics show up or not? If they don't I suddenly feel reeeally st00pid. 


	6. Part Six

Chapter Six  
  
Cid continued to take huge gulps of the water from the jug in desperate attempts to get the alcohol out of his system. He needed to be thinking clearly right now, and getting the headache from his mind was a good start.  
  
Another helpful idea was to try and find something to concentrate on. Cid had always been a bit different than other people. Though he was indeed strong as could be, he was a genius at heart and often found himself able to relax when he had something complex to study. At first, looking around the shockingly white room of which he was stored in, he decided to look at some papers.  
  
Finding some blueprints of the science building he began to study them, become familiar with the layout. There were three underground levels where the 'important' research happened. They had an extremely well developed security system of which nobody could break through - or so he'd been told.  
  
The first level was nothing but small, cramped rooms with biology experiments and some small-time machines that may do man a 'greater good'. He looked around and decided that was the level he was on.  
  
The second level had animals to be tested with concoctions of all sorts. That was also where the superior scientists met weekly.  
  
The third level Cid had never even been told about. It's security system was far superior to the rest of the buildings, and the things that went on down there were labelled far more important than anything else, supposdly. The pilot often worried himself to bits, thinking it may have something to do with Sephiroth or Jenova, or anything related to the Cetra. Scientists just never learned.  
  
Moving the blueprints aside he looked around to see a small little machine on a table. It was crudely cut by hands that were obviously unexperienced, and it looked a bit jagged in the overall appearence, but it was immensely intriguing to Cid.  
  
It's legs were about ten inches tall or so, made out of some kind of metal you'd expect from a childs creation kit. The torso was only a couple of inches with thick arms held at its side, all sorts of tools connected where fingers should have been. Then a small little flashlight seemed to be the head.  
  
As soon as his fingers brushed it the light turned on and it leaped back, afraid of the newcomer. It seemed to be shaking in fear. Then, it slowly walked away from Cid, already forgetting him. Seeing the microwave it approached it, raising its heavy arm to tap a button. The button triggered the door to open and it knocked it across the table to the edge.  
  
Frightened it began to cower, seeming to think it was under attack.  
  
Cid was laughing hysterically. "Aw man! This little dude would make a fortune!"  
  
"Already has." Cid turned around to see the first of the scientists walking in, Reeve right behind him then the second scientist in pursuit. "Most unfortunately, not by us.  
  
"Some little punk hacker new to the biz managed to get all the information on it, and sold it to the black market. Most companies on the Planet now have their own models in developement. If you want one you may take it." Cid nodded, smiling.  
  
Reeve wasn't at all amused though. "Cid. What do you plan on doing about our current... situation?"  
  
Cid shrugged. "The hell should I know? This isn't really my line of work, y'know. What I can suggest, however, is that you let the press know."  
  
The Presidents eyebrow raised skeptically. "You're kidding me?"  
  
"Not at all. This would force Hakwing Enterprises to loan us some money to finish the job, since we would have expected this, of course. We simply say we have a backup plan and will need the correct fundings."  
  
"And when they find out the truth?" Cid shrugged once again.  
  
*  
  
Later on that day, Marlene sat on the roof of 7th Heaven and wept. Her life had taken such a downfall, at such a tender age. She had never excpected all this to happen so rapidly.  
  
What frightened her more than anything was that she had been expecting some of it to happen. She sometimes had dreams which were more like a twisted reality, as if she herself was actually there. Being a thirteen year old girl and witnessing such things as she had was not a very good mixture. But she could handle...  
  
She had handled it, until she realized one day those visions were true.  
  
But these visions she'd been having recently frightened her. She did not know what was happened, but she did know it was something far more important than the others.  
  
One man cloaked in the shadows... The shadows swirl around him as he draws them around his slender form, as if they were his cape. Laughing madly he discards the shadows, drawing a broadsword. The shadows slowly fade away, the small tendrils reaching for their master as they die.  
  
He moves like a ghost, his feet so heavy not once making a sound.  
  
Across from him lies a different man. He is of the same size of the shadow warrior, and is similar in many ways. From his slender frame a holy light radiates, a sign of purity. Light and Shadow... They were never opposites; one cannot exist without the other.  
  
But the opposite souls in one another are obvious to anyone. One is of hate, and evil, the other swelling with the same hate but a goodness too. Perhaps they were not opposites. A slight change, and they would be the same.  
  
The second figure draws a broadsword like the shadow warriors, and as a single tear slides down his cheek he charges.  
  
The vision ends at this point, as though their fate has yet to be determined.  
  
She could hear the faint clatter of feet on the tiles. "...Hi Danny."  
  
The boy spoke no word. He walked over to Marlene and sat next to her, swinging his hand around her small, tender one. He brought his other hand around to her shoulder and drew her close, leaning into her as she leaned into him.  
  
On a late Summers eve, love was in the air. It is a terrible and terrific force, able to bring down empires but raise even mightier ones from nothing. It has the ability to bring two people from opposite ends of the world to one another, no matter what obstacles lay in their path.  
  
If one could only wield love, they would never again know any negative emotion in the world. But humans, as sensitive as they were, didn't need to wield the magnificent power. To merely feel it in their hearts, that would be enough. It is not something of which you want more of - knowing ten years after experiencing a second of love you can still smile, and know it was the greatest feeling ever.  
  
Danny didn't care whether or not others said children can feel the emotion. They were wrong, he knew that much. Children had seen as much pain in their lives as adults, but they were fresh to the emotion of love. For them it was magnified a million times. But Danny didn't care. Brushing his brown hair from his eyes, he leaned into Marlene, and told himself she was all he ever needed.  
  
*  
  
Marlene shivered as she suddenly became aware she had awoken. Looking around she found herself in her bed, in her own room. She was tightly wrapped in her blanket, and found herself to be smiling. Danny really did care about her...  
  
She still felt as though something was wrong, so managing to get herself out of the tightly wrapped blankets she stumbled out of her room. As she approached the living room she could hear the television was on, and her father was sitting on the recliner, his fist clenched.  
  
"Daddy?" The large man didn't say anything, so she just turned to the television instead.  
  
What she saw could only be described as hideous. Waves of destroyed ground were raising up and down, taking the form of people. She was frightened of what it meant, and suddenly felt a gut-wrenching ache.  
  
The bottom of the screen displayed the words 'Icicle Inn', and she could feel her mouth silently swear. Suddenly a howl pierced the eerie silenced wind, and the camera jerkily moved away from the current setting. It zoomed in on a different location that looked virtually the same anyway, and the picture seemed to be a wolf.  
  
Marlene had the picture of cookies for some reason. After making the shape of a cookie she'd have to cut off the extra bits. In this scenery the extra bits were everywhere - the extra bits were the ground. At the moment it was only wolf shaped, but it tore itself away from the ground and flew through the air, landing painfully.  
  
Cobalt eyes suddenly became alert, but they were cold and dead. The skin of the wolf began to change color from the murky brown to a deep blue, dotted with white spots. And it was alrger than most wolfs are - it must've been the same height as Marlene and it was still on all fours.  
  
Roaring viciously, a stone flew from nowhere and slapped it on the newly formed neck.  
  
Since it was in a 'baby' state the neck suddenly twisted, and the wolf fell down dead. What happened next, nobody was prepared for. The sea of rotten ground splashed over it, and when it sloshed away the wolf was good as new - it even looked larger and more menacing before.  
  
Jerkily the camera changed once again to a reporter, who tried to speak over the eerie silence. Though it was silence, it was the loud sort of windy silence you had to yell to be heard.  
  
"What you've just seen... I've been... I've been told it's the Elemental Energy of the Planet. Apparently... things are made from this energy, and... heal themselves with it!" The way the silence became louder than his voice at certain spots was indeed weird. Just so he could try to get his point through he made movements as he spoke.  
  
"Daddy?"  
  
"Go to bed, sweety. I'm... I'm going to Junon tomorrow. I'll leave you with Larry, okay?"  
  
"But Daddy!"  
  
"GO!" he roared, turning on her with furious eyes. That... wasn't her father, she had seen there. He was absolutely enraged, like she had never seen him before. Turning she ran back into her room, holding the tears at bay.  
  
The young teenager took out a pen and pulled away a book that said 'My Diary' in a pink gel pen. Opening it up to a fresh page she wrote with rage.  
  
*  
  
"AHAHAHA! You... YOU?... challenged the... the Guardian? AHAHAHAA!" The inspector, along with the rest fo the filthy cops in the room, was laughing madly, tipping backwards in his chair. Reno was too pissed with the man, and kicked his chair down - the laughing idiot didn't even notice it.  
  
"I do have feelings, you know. Well, not feelings, but I do have a rep to keep!" Everyone continued to laugh at him, their eyes shut with tears running down their faces. One of the men laid an arm on his chair so he wouldn't fall over. "That's it, I'm outta here."  
  
Moving away from the chair the man who had been leaning on it fell over. He moved towards the door, getting ready to get out of the place. He spit a toothpick at the door and turned, catching it. Taking out another with his hand he lodged one deep into the handcuffs, poking at it with the second.  
  
Satisfied with the click he threw the handcuffs away. Taking out a screw driver he knocked the doorknob out of place and poked the lock out. He pushed the door open and walked into the empty police station.  
  
He took the nearest chair and tore the chair leg from it, lodging it into the hole for the doorknob. He then took a table and dragged it in front of the door. Whistling as the Turk admired his handwork, he moved out away from the place with happy thoughts.  
  
Happy, destructive thoughts.  
  
*  
  
Cid leaned against the railing, admiring the clear blue sky far above him - and yet all around him, he reminded himself. This balcony was mostly hidden from most workers because, as Reeve explained, it was a relaxing one. He was a dickhead to his workers.  
  
He flicked a cigarette away from the balcony and began to get carried away with his thoughts. He wanted to pull out some kind of theory about this now.  
  
Everything he knew about materia. Normal materia was the Cetra's knowledge locked into small stones created from Elemental Energy. This was the energy of the land, unlike the Spirit Energy which existed in all living things. Bugenhagen had taught him about that, but Elemental Energy was a force only recently discovered.  
  
Then there was Summon materia... The Beasts from another planet could be summoned by those with psychic powers, but this took a great amont of energy and psychics were hard to find. It was for this reason Summon materia was very cheap.  
  
He soon enough decided that Summoning had nothing to do with this, but felt the Spirit and Elemental energy had a strong bond in this matter. Just as he was about to figure out what it all meant he could hear a ruckus below him and forgot everything.  
  
"Well, if President Reeve isn't here where is he?!" Reporters, noted Cid with dismay.  
  
One of the two men blocking the door to Reeve's private quarters looked a bit confused. "Well, er, we don't know. He said to not let anyone in though."  
  
"Who CAN we talk to?!" The woman questioning the guard was fierce. She had a shocking hair of red, and was built to be very persuasive to the males. She was currently in a mini-skirt and very tight shirt. Well well well, who slept with the boss for a job?  
  
"Captain Cid Highwind is right up there. He led the mission." Everyone turned to look at Cid who was leaning over the balcony. Traitorous bastards. The dozen or so reporters all ran for the side entrance to get to Cid as quick as they could. The red-head and her camera-man were through first, and apparently blocked the other side of the door with something. The other reporters began to yell, trying to get someone on the inside to open the door for them.  
  
Cid leaned against the balcony-side and waited for the woman to emerge. At last she flew through the door with her reporter. "Hi wench."  
  
The woman was obviously suprised at the greeting but shrugged it off. "Captain Highwind! Can you tell us about the recent attacks?"  
  
"Sure. How about this? I don't know anything about them."  
  
The reporter and cameraman looked at one another confused. "You mean... You haven't heard?" Cid shook his head, preparing another cigarette. "Well, the monsters... They've gone insane - moreso than usual, that is. They've already taken over the first barricade. We were hoping one of you officials could tell-"  
  
"Holy shit! Monsters? Thank the Gods, I was bored as hell!" Cid went running through the door.  
  
"...What just happened?" the reporter asked a bit confused.  
  
*  
  
The monsters were pouring in from all sides, like a waterfall closing in all around them. They were mostly wolves, deep violet colored ones that were immensely large. They were pouring down in the thousands, an army raised from Hell it seemed.  
  
For every thousand wolves a single man in a dark black cloak, sat upon a warhorse, would ride out, guiding the army and telling them what to do.  
  
It was indeed a bloody scene. The blood of the natives ran down the hills, the stench too horrible for the humans to take. But on that day, a miracle had happened.  
  
Men of Fort Condor took their weapons and ran onto the battlefield, destroying all that lay in their path. The women had created makeshift weapons and were alongside their husbands or sons. The elders, far too old to fight, were miraculously managing to use any sort of weapon they could get their hands on.  
  
Their only true weakness was the lack of magic, but it did not matter to them. By the time they had all been ruthlessly murdered, ten times their number had been taken. They were not stronger than the monsters, nor were they faster. Their courage was the strongest tool they had.  
  
*  
  
Her arm screamed to her brain in agony as fains at least two inches long dug into her arm. She did not scream, however. Using the pan she had made for a weapon she hit the wolf across the head.  
  
The thing was gigantic - eight feet long, five feet tall. She had never expected they would evolve to such monstrous creations, but it had at last happened.  
  
A paw swiped her face, drawing blood, but it didn't bother her. Bringing up a long knife she sliced it's neck. It stumbled along for a few more minutes before the message of its death reach it's brain, and it fell.  
  
There had never been any hope what-so-ever of coming out victorious. Every inch of the terrain that didn't have a human was covered with monsters. Outnumbered a hundred thousand to one their only goal was to give them a fight they wouldn't forget.  
  
One of the mercenaries came by her, his raven hair blowing in the wind. His broadsword cut through the neck of the monster before he was slapped across the chest and flew through the air. She turned to see he was okay, already moving through the monsters with ease.  
  
Then the rest came. At the moment they had been dealing with about two-hundred thousand wolves, and the humans of course. But now dozens of more monster types came. For each type of monster there was twice the number of wolves.  
  
Dragons came down in spiralling attacks, and she fell to her knees.  
  
A dragon swallowed her whole and Marlene fell from her bed screaming in pain, and fear.  
  
*  
  
Nanaki was cursed to use his powers to only a certain extent. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get in touch with the Planet whilst on boats, planes, or anything else technological. The technology didn't kill it - it was just a shock absorber.  
  
So he sat panting on the boat, wishing he could find out what was currently happening. He supposed that the Planet was getting worse with every ill-chosen action, but that had always been the way things worked here.  
  
This suggestion to the mind was suddenly shattered. Even here on a ferry in the middle of the ocean, the noise came in at full blast. Even the humans near by could here the awful wailing; normally too high pitched for the humans the sound dipped lower as though it was losing it's breath.  
  
The Planet had been hurt, an evil so great and so greedy that it could not suppress the pain. Mountains shuddered, forests toppled, and the lands quaked. The pain was unbearable - something was wrong.  
  
Never had this kind of hate been felt on the Planet, and Nanaki doubted it would be felt again for a long time, if ever. Someone had been awakened; someone whom would destroy cities and bring the fiery storms of hell to the Planet.  
  
Nanki, son to Seko, a legend in his own name, and Guardian to Cosmo Canyon, cried. His tears fell from his eyes, slowly travelling down to the floor of the ferry in slow motion. If only he could swipe his paw, catch the tears and deny they had ever been. But he could not. The first tear splashed the ground, the wailing at last stopping.  
  
The humans too felt a great sorrow, and some also wept with the warrior. They did not know why, but they felt as though their fates had just been sealed.  
  
  
Authors Notes: *Phew* I wrote most of that last night, but I'm still exhausted -.- Hope yall like it, most of it is pretty damn cool to me. The only places I felt I screwed up on were the Fort Condor scenes. Not nuff drama!  
  
Um, okay... I took what's probably the most important tests in my life today. Well, the English one anyway. I'm pretty sure I aced it :D If I get top marks on Maths and Science as well, I get £300! Bout $450 for fellow americans.  
  
And just as I wrote this AN it happened... I keep the entire fic on one file, and if the file gets too long it does that annoying thing where you try to write somewhere above, but it erases the next letters. For some reason it never did it with the other file, even though it's longer.  
  
*Ahem* GO 23000 WORDS!  
  
Now... As much of a bitch this may sound to you, Aeris won't really be much of a character until Part Two of this fic (Yes, I know I name the chapters of the fic by 'Part' - Part Two is War of the SOLDIERs [working title], like the second book or something). Vincent won't even be introduced till then, I think.  
  
Good news is Part Two is the third chapter from now! (chapter 9 ends part one, i think, or maybe it's 8? ah, who cares)  
  
PLZ R+R! If ya do I'll read ur fic! (er, try to, i honestly am a bit busy)  
  
PS DAMMIT! The italics dont show up... I'll have to fix that when I check my fic  
  
PSS? Thanks to everyone who's read this so far! Specially Krystal and Giggleplex since they review the hell out of it! 


	7. Part Seven

Chapter Seven

A/N: First scene taken from my original version, cuz it already kicked ass

Cloud steadied his entire form, both hands reached low towards the ground and his back arched backwards, filling with energy. His eyes were closed tight and his thin lips mumbled words he himself didn't know. He could feel it all.

The soft soil beneath his bare feet with blades of grass emerging from between his toes. The shrubs nearby blooming with such beauty, their multi-colored buds poking out as a bee landed on the edge of a deep violet flower near by. Daisies were blowing in the cool, refreshing wind. And between the mighty giant trees raised around him, he could sense the rays of the warm sun gliding through the canopy's top. They brushed his tanned skin with their gaze.

The soft vibrations warned his toes of Seko walking lightly behind his still form. The bird was beginning to chirp but Cloud just barely raised one hand, warning it not to.

Nearby the trickle of a stream could be heard, the blue tears dripping over pebbles into the most beautiful pond. Inside fish were swimming about, frogs leaping across lily pads dotting one end. An even larger waterfall, at least fifteen feet high, was letting the gushing water explode onto the still form of the pond. This warned Cloud what was happening. A still pond with gushing water and leaping frogs?

His eyes snapped opened and his sword flashed neatly into the air. The silver-flashing blade created a sonic boom, and the image Cloud had seen with his mind shattered like a glass image. His blue eyes were calm and steady, observing with his unfaithful as ever eyes.

What truly lay before him was what he had seen for the past several hours. Redwood trees with perfectly straight and unmarked bark ran up on all sides of him, the branches breaking off at the hundred-foot mark with the illuminating green leaves that never fell.

To his side was dull, murky green shrubbery that always ran along the sides of the maze, clearly saying to not cross over. And that was what it was. A maze. There were turns, dead-ends, but so far no end was found.

Sweeping his spiky hair from his eyes with one hand, Cloud quickly placed his sword into its place and began walking. And tripped over a rock. That was another thing. His unfaithful eyes disappointed him again; it was dark. Not dark on the shrubbery and the trees, though. They created their own magical light with some sort of energy. But the path in the middle sucked the light from any source.

"ARGH! Seko, lead the way." As Seko led him he began wondering just how strong his Minds Eye was. He had never used it before. He could already feel the presence of others, but recently he'd begun to see the point of it. Eyes were unreliable, and scarcely admitted the truth. The mind though, could see a true image.

But that was hard still in this forest. It continuously made its own images, for some reason trying to trap Cloud. Whoever dominated this land was obviously a superior mage.

After only twenty minutes of taking lefts and rights, being led by the chocobo, Cloud saw a leaf fall. "Not again..." he groaned, bored with the ease of seeing an image being created before him.

But then another fell. Then another. Then they all fell. Hundreds of thousands of leaves fell from their places in the branches, sprouting new ones before Cloud could see what they held. And that first leaf that had fallen did something miraculous.

It sprouted eyes. Then legs, and its leaf half broke into two, forming wings as a stinger shot out.

"Oh shit."

Once again spinning his sword from his current place, he began to charge his energy. His materia may have been taken - but Cloud was smart. He knew every living being creates his own source of energy that can be manipulated. Some fighters learned how to use 'limit breaks' when this energy had grown to raw hate and anger, but Cloud had learned to use this form of attack with neither emotion.

After all, emotions were for weaklings.

"HAH! SOOONIC BOOM!" A silver line flashed. About ten seconds later the first line of the trees all around him, packed into walls from their closeness, all slanted one way and began to descend. "SEKO! GO!" Seko jumped off to a start and the ex-ShinRa soldier and crisis killer only just dove onto him. The leaves finally reached them, and chaos came with them.

A needle dug into Clouds arm and he realized just how large of a threat these little guys were. Most dull knives couldn't pierce the skin of a warrior such as himself. It had been one of the effects from the mako poisoning; though he himself had never been in SOLDIER he had been infected with the mako energy. Most SOLDIER units had skin so tough it was tough to break through; it had become more of a hide than skin.

Growling, his sword began to glow again as he moved onto his knees, only just holding onto the incredibly fast chocobo. The tip began to form a ball and the sword slowly sunk into a shadowed color. Violet strips began dotting the edges as flames of the same color suddenly lashed from the buster sword, illuminating the shadow blade in the darkness. "APOCOLYPSE BREAK!" His hand moved in slow motion as it ripped through time and space, disfiguring itself from the Planet and existence itself as it dug into a power far deeper. His eyes melted into violet and a great _BOOM!_ sounded.

And then, the bee-like leaves fell. And an echoing laugh surrounded the forest, strangely akin to Clouds. ...Only... more evil... more _insane_... But there was mistaking it - the voice had undoubtedly belonged to Cloud.

*

Over the next hours Tifa didn't learn too much from the child; she was too busy answering the many questions he pestered her about. He wanted to know news about a great many things going on in the outside that did not make sense to Tifa at all.

He asked about where she came from, and if they all looked like him and his sister there. But more than anything, the teenager had been interested in weapons and fighting.

This had somehow led to the topic of a war that took place in the town hundreds of years ago. She herself had never heard of it, and was bewildered by the things he mentioned.

"You're kidding!" Ken exclaimed loudly as they walked another random path. "You've NEVER heard of The Great War? Sheesh, you been living under a rock or something? Well, anyway, we here in Alore used to dwell in towns all 'round this town. Our country was much larger than Junon's or Wutai's, and our army was unbeatable.

"Then one day a messenger came to our King - we had kings 'n' queens back then, y'see - sayin' that some official was dead, or somethin' of the sort. Junon had been blamed for it, and before you know it a huge war was happenin'! Hundreds of chocobo's marched out with their owners, all suited in armor!"

Tifa was obviously suprised by the chocobo's, and she grinned awkwardly. "Ken, chocobo's haven't been used in a war for at least a thousand years!" The teenager bit his lip for a few seconds, before faking a smile.

"Well, I heard it was jes a few hundred years ago. So, anyway, how good of a fighter are you?" Everyone whom had seen Tifa by now could see she was obviously a fighter - even in a wheelchair she seemed to move with some kind of cocky stride, and she was always alert. The gloves kind of hinted at it too.

"I'm good enough. Why do you enjoy fighting so much?"

Ken shrugged, his eyes distant. "I don't know how to explain it, y'know? 'S like... 'S like I get myself so excited, I jes can't help myself! I gotta release all that energy somehow, and the pleasure after having spent all that energy is great!" Tifa slightly blushed at this; it sounded as if Ken had been describing something else to her.

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean. My friend... My friend Cloud liked fighting a lot. He always wanted to be some kind of hero, a big baddy everyone knew. In the end he was a hero, but he sort of disappeared." Seeing her downcast eyes, Ken could tell this was a sore spot and let it be, though he wanted to ask about Cloud.

After a few minutes of walking - and rolling along was Tifa - he finally decided to talk about something again. "What about magic? How do you folks use that?"

"Simple. Materia, the same way anyone would." Kens eyes turned to her own quizzically, and she felt that feeling again. It was the one she felt when there was something so different about everyone here, like they weren't even from this planet. She shook her head soundly. "You know what Elemental Energy is, yeah? Well, the Elemental Energy is formed into these neat little stones, called materia.

"The knowledge of the Ancients is kind of placed inside the stones." The memory of Sephiroth explaining it suddenly flashed in her mind, causing Tifa to momentarily hesitate. "It was done so humans can only use what they would be permitted. If you find a fire materia, for example, you will probably only be able to light candles and do small fireballs at first. But as you train it, your mind expands, absorbing the knowledge the Ancients left in the stone.

"After a while you develop your own sense of techniques, and learn to manipulate Elemental Energy with the materia. Once you have mastered the art of several materia, and you find a rare materia called Huge Materia, something new happens. The Huge Materia was like a blank CD - you got computers here, right? - while the regular materia is a floppy disc. Materia can only hold one piece of information, which you must learn to control yourself.

"Huge Materia, on the other hand, is huge amounts of information available to you. With it you could even control Elemental Energy in its rawest form, though people who can do that are rare. It's pretty amazing. You wanna know more?" Ken nodded energetically.

"Okay, well... You see, there's more than one kind of materia. The yellow ones - I think some people call it command or something - increase your physical abilities. These more than likely were not intentionally left by the Ancients, since they have no knowledge what-so-ever. This may increase your speed, your strength, even weird things like your ability to steal.

"Red materia, summon materia, is difficult to use. I myself could never learn how to use it. You see, you have to set up a bond with the beasts, which are connected, to you by the stones, and you have to free them from their world in a complex way. Only people with traits of a psychic can do this.

"Most of the other materia is pretty basic, but I can tell you more anytime you want."

Ken nodded, as if he were considering something major. Slowly he looked up to Tifa, before deciding to ask her what had been gnawing on his mind. "What about my magic?"

Tifa blinked, confused. "What magic?"

"I'll show you... Come here; not many people can do this, that's why nobody else has done it to ya yet." Tifa slowly wheeled herself towards Ken, and his chocolate eyes stared at her, slightly misty.

He waved a hand in front of her eyes, and she could feel a deep relaxation fall over her. Panting, she became a bit nervous as to what the boy was going to do to her. She could feel his hands pass over her legs, slowly tracing up and down them.

When the fighter gathered the courage to open her eyes and see what was happening, she was met with a beautiful sight. Ken's eyes were closed, and he was smiling as his hands traced her legs. Some sort of invisible energy seemed to be flowing through him, into her legs. Until at last he looked on the brink of exhaustion, where he fell over.

Tifa had been far too bewildered to notice what he was doing. The whole world was suddenly looked at with a different perspective. The suns rays cutting through the leaves, the bushes so delicately placed, each and every single bud of every color.

At last she remembered Ken, and became aware of him laying against her wheelchair. Without thinking twice about it she jumped from it, picking him up. Considering what she did once he was propped up, she felt a bit frightened. "Ken... How did you do that?"

He smiled, this one a tired expression that looked worn far too frequently. "My magic... It's done through the power of emotions. I drew the healing power for you from my own happiness. If I wanted fire I'd concentrate on hate or somethin' bad."

Tifa stared at him with a sidelong glance, considering what this could mean. It definitely had possibilities.

*

At times battle could be a glorious thing. It would be the force to show that humans could prevail, through violence, loyalty, and in the most extreme circumstances love.

This was most definitely not one of those times.

When one must fight against the land they live on, destroy the beasts they have learned to cope with, it becomes a nasty, vile thing to be despised. Yet in this case, it really had not been working that way; the monsters were making a joke out of the human forces.

ShinRa was the only force who guarded the town, and they were not only beaten in numbers, but they had little strength. ShinRa soldiers were men with guns.

The enemy seemed to be made up of eight foot long, five feet tall wolves with stamina that could not be surpassed, a hide that was invincible against bullets, and teeth that could crush metal. Aside from these, there were goblins of equal strength unusual to their kind, strange creatures from the forests, and one or two dragons had made a special appearance.

All in all, Cid was disappointed to see this as the battle. He'd been hoping to see men with high hopes, fighting with all means possible. That had always been the battle he had seen. Here, though, were men running away, far too frightened by the enemies bullet-proof hide to fight. It was despicable and made Cid wonder where all the war-hardened soldiers from the Wutai War had gone.

Still, it didn't make much of a difference to him. He emerged from the steel barrier spinning his lance as it drank the blood from the first wolf in sight. The hide had indeed been tougher than expected, but the cut was clean for the most part.

Ducking under a paw, he spun as he drew the lance from his crouched position and speared the wolf. It fought on, not yet wishing to admit death was in its presence. Cid kicked it once, though, and it finally stopped moving.

Running between the blue uniformed men he swiped his lance once he emerged to the front line of attack, flames licking the lance and growing out, spreading to the lines of wolves. By the looks of it there weren't that many monsters here yet, only a few thousand or so. They could take them...

One of the younger men - he couldn't have been older than fifteen, Cid noted with dismay - was screaming for SOLDIER again and again, until at last a wolf bit through his middle, carrying on in its jump forcing the boys body to explode in blood. Cid's eye twitched but he didn't hesitate in sending his lance through the monstrosities head. Retrieving the lance the pilot began to charge a spell, seeing no other way out of the battle.

He began to feel the surroundings, search them for an element that would be easy to tap into yet extremely powerful at the same time. This was the way one became familiar with their surroundings, and it almost made Cid lose his lunch. The hills, normally so beautiful and alive were losing their energy, splattered with the blood of hundreds of victims. In between flatter areas of the hills there was a pond of blood, already about an inch deep.

The air smelled with a horrible, rotting aroma, forcing the mind to other thoughts than the surroundings. Cid fought this smell and continued to find a good element that would suit this situation. Normally he would have used ultima, but that required a large amount of raw emotion. The soldiers around him felt a mixture of different things, so they were no help, and the monsters seemed almost empty, devoid of all emotion.

The 'friction' and heat built up between the opposing sides made fire a good choice, but there was so much heat it was likely Cid would drain himself, making him tired and weak.

Seeing no alternative he drew the heat to him, his body becoming warmer and bustling with energy, until at last he couldn't take it. A mighty roar made it's presence, and only after a few seconds did Cid realize it was him. He kept his eyes closed, but could still feel the destruction as tornadoes of fire engulfed the enemy.

It had weakened him far too much, and he could feel his head getting woozy. His eyes widened in shock, glancing at his two hands that were now stained with blood. He wiped them away on the grass, but as he turned them over to his palms he could still see them covered in the fresh, sticky blood.

Perhaps he had been hallucinating, but it didn't make any difference. _This battle has only just begun..._ he laughed to himself.

*

The Guardian strained her muscles, pulling her body a few feet higher of the mountain. Already she was dangling about four hundred feet off the mountain, but it wouldn't be much longer until she was home.

Heaving herself over the edge, she lay staring up at darkening sky. "I-I r-r-really need to move..." Smiling to herself she tore the mask off, letting her dark brown hair fall in dangerous daggers around her naturally tanned face. It matched her brown eyes that were so young and energetic.

Yuffie took the mask and managed to pull herself to her feet, walking over to the cave entrance where she now lived.

Upon returning to Wutai she realized how she simply couldn't live an every day, normal life like most people did. Yuffie lived for adventure, not for peace and organization. So she lived in a cave and created a story about the Guardian that everyone could believe.

Not that it really mattered, she just didn't want people to know their beloved Yuffie Kisaragi had returned. In many ways, she had not.

"Knock knock, pretty lady."

"Reeve." Yuffie scowled.

"I knew I had recognized those beautiful brown eyes from _somewhere_." It was official - Yuffie was now pissed.

Authors Notes: ACK! Sorry! It was just the last two scenes that I never could write, because I kept getting back into HP fics (last year I went through a huge phase).

Anyway... Anyone willing to be a beta reader or anything, plz tell me! All I want is someone to read the chapters and tell me if anythign doesn't make sense, so I can fix it up.

Plz R+R, yada yada yada, CYaz


	8. Part Eight

Authors Notes: First update in half a year! ¬¬ I had edited it but my PC froze on me. I'll sum this up quick. I wrote this half a year ago. Hit depression for the next several months. During the few days I wasn't depressed I worked on my original story (which I don't have the official version up on here, I think). So it's back. Hopefully, if things go well (you know they wont), we're looking at updates about every other week. With my best writing style yet (which is unfortunately not shown in this chapter - this chapter was written when I quit the story). Enjoy the phun.

Her smooth, pale skin created an eerie light of it's own magnitude, like that of an angel's would. However, no wings lay on her back, for she had chosen a life of torment over one of luxuries. Or rather, an afterlife - if such a thing did exist. Brown hair slapped her back, so shiny and beautiful it could make one ache. Her eyes, usually so alive and caring for the others around her, were now clenched tightly, her hands held in prayer. Her hands, clenched as tightly as they were, did not waver one bit as her pouty lips whispered words to the wind.

Cloud took a solemn step towards her. He hated this one most of all. This was the vision that made him wake in the night, crying, alone. It would be the very same vision that had once been a hauntingly real nightmare. It had all been his fault, if he felt the need to put the blame on an individual.

There was one small difference in the vision that differentiated it so clearly from the real life nightmare. Here the blonde-haired individual did not lose control, attacking the love of his life with that blank face that haunted his friends for years afterwards. Instead he approached her, his footsteps sedated, until he was next to her.

Falling to weakened knees, an echo fell throughout the room - a single, hollow note that was dead and alive at the same time. Closing his eyes tightly, mostly to hide the tears, he held his hands in prayer. He could feel his heart slowly quickening.

"Aeris... Oh how I have missed you. Every day I dream of you, wonder what would have happened if we were to live happily ever after." He paused. "That's... not entirely true. I have nightmares, not fantasies. Memories that I am unsure of, the delusions forever haunting me. If only I could set out my memories of joy from my delusions of _him._" There was no doubt who _he_ was.

Cloud began to smile at this point, raising his head and opening his misty eyes. Staring at the infinite depths of blackness he felt as though he was about to laugh. "No matter... I shall be with you soon."

Normally at this point the dream would end, and Cloud would be sobbing in a makeshift bed. It was a lie - he was far too weak to take his own life. Others had been stronger than he had, and it felt as though a burning knife was plunged into his heart again and again once he realized his weakness.

"No…" Cloud's eyes widened. The voice was faint, and dead, though a bit emotion was still struggling to be held in it. Aeris had never before spoken to him in one of these dreams. "You will not leave. I care for you dearly, beloved. But you came to me only in loneliness. You have a long time to live. Go, now. You need your strength in the other world, for now."

Cloud tried to lunge for her, the tears now of joy and not of infinite emptiness that was to be expected. He had at last found he could be with the woman he had longed for, and he would give anything to keep it like that. But the woman waved a hand and Cloud was gone. Gone from her forever.

*

Clouds eyes hauntingly snapped open, a silent rage waging battle in his mind. His blue eyes were flashing an illumines, unnatural color repeatedly, as if the mako energy was growing in strength. The eyes did not settle down as Cloud's mind did, though. Hidden deep behind the rational thinking of mans brain secrets could dwell. Sometimes things could be seen by a man that made no sense to him at all, and he'd coolly disregard it while his mind continued to consider what it was.

When such things happen to SOLDIERs or those infected with the mako energy and Jenova cells, the fact these secrets exist are forced out by the mako energy, even if the person is not yet aware of it. It causes a reaction in which the brain tries to tell the person something important is happening; it's usualy signalled by the flashing in the eyes. The light can be created from thinking, anger, love, and a number of other things.

What Cloud was quite certain of was that a battle was going to be fought here, within the next few minutes. His sixth sense was not tingling; it was simply a fact that Aeris had been telling him, in his dream, that it was time. Cloud did not try to think rationally as most people did, considering his past. If someone walked up to him and told him he was an alien with magical powers that had in fact destroyed hundreds of planets, he would probably believe them.

So he of course believed everything figments of his imagination told him; after all, he didn't know for sure they only existed in his head. 

Stretching his arms a bit he brought his gaze over to assure that Seko was safe. The chocobo was resting safely by a waterfall. They were now in another one of those visions that were created here, but it felt entirely real.

His right arm had been healing nicely, but Cloud was still sceptical whether or not it should be used in the battle. It was weak from the lack of movement it had been receiving. Considering it was tingling with a sort of new birth and energy though, it would do perfect with handling materia. Cloud would need to use every advantage, and turn his weaknesses into strengths.

Sticking the end of his sword into the dirt he pulled himself up, taking a few practice swings. He recalled Zack's lessons to him, moving gracefully through the moves as daisies were ripped apart and blades of grass filled the air from the swords intensity.

"You are doing very nicely. Perhaps a thinner blade would suit you better though; your arms are thin and your reflexes show signs of a more graceful weapon. A broadsword is so clumsy and pathetic." It had not been the voice Cloud was expecting. It was soft and heart-felt, like a romantic child declaring his love.

"Yeah. Well. It's sort of an old friend." Turning to face his opponent he swung the sword across his back, glaring as the sword quietly fell into place. The apprentice was tall and built a lot like Cloud was. His features were soft and delicate, reminding Cloud of Sephiroth and his feminine face. His eyes kept shifting from white to black to gray and back to white. His hair, meanwhile, was an entirely different story. It was long, almost reaching his waist. It was not long in the manner that Sephiroth or Aeris had long hair, though. It was spikey and stuck out in odd places, the color red like fire. He was clothed in a long cloak that swallowed the darkness and gave the impression he was a hippie.

His lips curled into a slow, sadistic smile. "Cloud, you are indeed a fine warrior. I have been told... not to toy with you though." Cloud got the impression he wasn't talking about the fight. A very frightening impression. "You may call me Ace. Or brother. After all, we live the same life, breath the same air, why not consider ourselves one and the same?"

"Because I'm not a dickhead who serves an ugly-ass master guy." At this rate the fight wouldn't start forever.

"You know, they say insults are a sign of weakness, and also of fear of others rejecting you for your penis size." Cloud could not help but laugh at Ace's quite serious remark. "Now, let's fight, yes?"

Ace's cloak dissipitated into shadows and faded away, the shadows lurking for a few moments before disappearing into wispy tendrils of smoke. Underneath he had been wearing shorts, a long sleeved t-shirt, and metal-toe boots that looked dangerous. Holding out a hand a scythe materialized in the air, as deadly as it's owner. The blade itself reminded Cloud of the 'Ultima Sword' which he had discarded after the battle with Sephiroth.

"YES!" Cloud screamed in excitement and dropped low as he charged. Only a foot away from Ace he brought his sword free and brought it down with all the strength he had. Ace's wrist swiftly flicked over, forcing the scythe into the path of the sword. Sparks of lightning clashed as the two struggled to get the other down, the air around them filling with magic. 

"HA!" Ace yelled triumphently, kicking Cloud aside with a great deal of strength. The blonde flew through the air until he collided with an oak tree, blood seeping from his skull.

At this point Seko had woken up, and was now charging Ace. "SEKO! NO!" Cloud yelled out, but it was too late. Ace kicked it and the bird flew away into the forest, its speed amazing. "God... dammit..." Pushing his weight against the tree he steadied himself, charging Ace again.

"GIVE IT UP CLOUD!" The two leapt towards one another, but instead of clashing in the air Cloud rolled into a ball and the scythe swung over his head.

Landing in a storm of dust he spun towards Ace, preparing to use magic. Materia was out of the question, he sadly recalled, but his personal energy tap would suffice. The reality became distorted before his finger tips, flickering for a moment, then a ball of invisible energy flew towards the red-headed maniac.

Ace's eyes flickered green and the energy ball was absorbed into his skin, which momentarily had to turn into nothing but raw energy. It had only been for a split second, but Cloud was sure he had seen it. This fighter had the ability to not only bend reality, but to manipulate his own body.

Ace smiled, and spead two fingers towards Cloud, who was instantly launched backwards. About a dozen feet back he stopped as though he were chained to a wall, and there was no longer the rush of wind sounding, only a silent whistling of the wind blowing through the leaves and his heavy breath. Ace had not been afected by the fight at all, but Cloud had almost used up all his strength in those few minutes.

Ace made a throwing movement and halfway to Cloud a dagger materialized, heading straight for Cloud's forehead. Cloud squeezed his eyes shut, then total darkness.

*

Ace smiled victoriously, knowing the battle had been won. The dagger had hit dead on target, and a mass of blood was now pouring down the young mans head. The battle had not at all been hard, and he was rather disappointed with the weakness of the Planet's strongest fighter.

Turning he walked away, about to collapse this visionary reality, but he heard a slight rustling noise behind him. _It... can't be._

He slightly shifted his head, and his eyes were bulging at the sight that lay before him.

*

Cloud was in the oh-so-typical dark void that he was by now quite used to. His life was nothing more than a mere void. The darkened area seemed to be beating with life, like a heartbeat.

"Where am I?" The words were immediately sucked into the blackness before they travelled a few inches. The answer reached him though.

__

You are here.

"Oh, THAT'S a lot of help. I guess I finally died, eh?" He was facing the facts with a certain amount of humor.

__

Dear lord no!

"...Oh." Seeing no need to talk to the voices anymore he began to turn his mind back to his fight. Flashes of Aeris dying came to his mind though, and in this strange place he may have been there for years, crying out in pain. Perhaps he had never existed, and he was simply a fragment of energy who had wished he was something and made up a life. It seemed logical enough.

__

Have... to draw my strength. I CAN STILL WIN! Cloud focused on the dark energy that existed in the universe, superior to the weaker forces. It was all... It was there... It was him.

"AHAHAHAHAHHAAAA!" He didn't know why he was laughing; did it matter? Was it even really Cloud that was laughing?

*

Before Ace's face was Cloud. Well, in most ways it resembled Coud. Same hair _style_, same face, same dagger protruding from forehead...

Now though his hair was black, with violet strips on the tips to make it all the more sinister looking. His eyes were black too, and all in all he looked a whole lot... darker.

"What the hell ARE you, Cloud?" Ace asked with a smile, his muscles finally relaxing. "Anyone with the ability to do THAT is indeed a worthy opponent."

Expecting Cloud to reply he waited for a few quiet moments, quite impatiently. Turning to Cloud he could see his expression was blank; not victorious, nor was it happy, angered, or any emotion Ace could think of. "Well, let's continue this much, eh?" Bringing his scythe backwards he charged, swinging the weapon in a wide arc.

Cloud didn't make a move to dodge it; when the scythe's blade struck him in the side of the face it erupted into thousands of shards. "WHAT?!" Ace screamed in an outrage, but he was instantly brought into blackness. He hadn't even seen the fist move.

*

Marlene stared straight ahead, her mouth gaping and her misty eyes twitching. The television was showing the scene of a bloody battle that had occurred sometime last night, at Fort Condor.

But her dream... Was she seeing the future? Or maybe the present... "Larry?" she questioned the man sitting across from him.

"Hm?"

"I-Is Daddy coming back?" Larry slowly turned to her, seeing genuine fright in her face. Marlene had always been a tough girl, and was rarely seen afraid. "And Tifa?"

"Marlene..." he spoke, choosing his words carefully. "Tifa and your father are both extremely strong people. Two of the strongest on the Planet, you know that! Don't be so silly, there's nothing that could hurt them." But on the inside Larry knew his own words were lies, and the two residents were as vulnerable to an army of monsters as anyone.

The aftermaths were even worse than the battle. Gnawed bones with pieces of meat littered the area, with skin thrown around as if it had come from a twister. Four dragons, dozens of feet in length, were sprawled across the hills still bleeding, looking as though their own had tried to eat them.

The hills, once green and beatiful, were red and permantly stained. It made a tear travel down her cheek.

*

Danny sat at the edge of the mountain overlooking the town, a warm, caring look in his eyes. Up here there were no problems, no life to be hated and despised.

If others knew about his life, they would be astounded what he could cope with. The only family member he had now was a drunk father, who was very abusive. Yet Danny still felt for him, knowing at one point he had been a good man. His father knew this, and used it to his advantage. He would threaten Danny he would kill himself because his son was so disobedient.

Danny himself had considered killing himself more than once. But every time he was about to do it, flashes of a small, pretty girl came into his mind.

He wasn't too sure why he loved her; she was beatiful, nor was she particularly smart (though in his humble opinion she was much more intelligent than she let on). Maybe it was because when he was with her, problems faded away. He worked at 7th Heaven at minimum wage for unpaid afterhours too, just to be with her. Because when he was without her, he'd have to go home...

Sometimes he wasn't at home or with Marlene, but when he wasn't he was thinking of her. She had kept his life in balance, and without her he wouldn't last an hour in the world.

He turned his eyes from the town to the partially rebuilt Midgar. At one of the mountainsides it looked as though a huge miscoloured mountain was moving around. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was.

"Oh shit..."

*

Yuffie muttered under her breath while Reno rambled on. He held both her arms up against the wall, one of his legs crossing over both of hers to block any kicks.

"I'm not really a bad guy you know. ...Well, I am, but that doesn't really matter, now does it? Besides, I won't hurt you! ... Another lie, you embarassed the hell out of me earlier and you are going to pay for ever doing it."

Yuffie mentally rolled her eyes, getting ready for what was to come next. "Oooh, Reno!" she said in a sort of turned-on shcoolgirl voice (or at least she hoped it sounded that way).

"U-Uh, yeah?" Due to work Reno never paid much attention to girls, so this was a rather awkward situation. Yuffie noted with glee he had shifted his posture to attempt to look stronger.

"Weell... I was just hoping you could..." She spoke in her most aroused, seductive voice she could, moving closer to his ear to make him fidget all the more. "Get real." Reno's eyes widened and Yuffie, with one free knee, hit him in the balls.

"AH! B-Bitch... Oh well." He grinned, revealing her materia in one hand. He must have taken it as he fell...

"HEY! Give it back and I'll give you a kiss!"

"With tongue?" Yuffie nodded and Reno began considering this. Was she lying? Was he _desperate?_ Of course he was! "Tell you what, I'll give it back to you once you give me head."

Yuffie smiled widely. "Deal!" She moved to him, tracing her fingers down his body. _I-Is she going to go through with this?! _He gulped as she unbuckled his pants, sliding them down.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" _Not the most romantic line, but I think she was impressed! I still got it! Hey, where's my wallet?_

*

Reeve threw away the run-down cigarette, pacing back and forth in the dark interior. He was so struck by nervousness at the news of rampaging monsters he had gone into hiding, knowing it had all been his faut.

"I just couldn't handle it! Not like you Cloud... No, never like you! You always knew what do, dammit! ALWAYS! He chose to blame Coud for his own problems because he was unwilling to admit his one fautls, and he was quite aware of it.

Behind him he could hear some shuffling. He let out a nervous whimper, hearing the threatening voice.

"Goodbye, _President._" A gunshot rang, destroying the silence.

*

Nanaki ran into an alley, letting the people chase him down keep on going in the wrong direction. He was growing weary of this.

For a day he had been kept at the dock, people telling him he was not allowed to enter the city because he may have been with the 'enemy'. Then, despite the official ShinRa pass hanging around his neck, people continued to chase him donw in the streets, yelling thigns like 'YOU KILLED MY HUSBAND!'

It was really annoying, but at least he was close to ShinRa headquarters. It was just across the street, but he could die before he made it there.

Gathering his courage he dashed over the pavement, several people turning their heads to see a red blur, and he threw himself through the doors to the humongous building. Inside it was very quiet, and comfortable looking.

The receptionist was the only person in the room, and she looked as though she was about to faint. Slowly walking over to her he jumped up, his two front paws landing on the desk.

"I'm here to see Captain Highwind. Is he in?"

Cid had taken over ShinRa until the current president was found or, if the current president was dead, until the vice president could be found. He was said to be somewhere near Mideel now, running some scientific experiments that rather worried Nanaki. 

"H-H-He's b-busy. In a-a meeting."

Nanaki turned his eye to her, letting it creep into a squint to look threatening. "Oh contrare, I don't believe that is very true."

Gulping, the receptionist passed him a card that said 'VIP Pass' in fanciful gold writing. "F-Floor 75."

Taking the card in his mouth he dashed to what looked like a rather elegant elevator and pressed his nose to force it open. Walking in he placed the card into a slot and once again used his nose to tap the button. Like in all elevators, the music was a friendly little chime that drove the person insane in a matter of moments.

When he _did_ at last arrive at Floor 75 he felt like he was going to go mad from the so called music. Looking around he found himself to be in what looked like an apartment room; lightly colored with big fluffy couches everywhere, illuminous lights that looked friendly. The carpet was soft and felt good to the touch, as if it itself was stuffed with thousands of feathers.

Laying on a couch was the pale-blonde headed man himself. "Cid." Nanaki said as a greeting, if a rather bland one.

"Hey, man! Or... Thing? I'm not sure WHAT you are." Nanaki was instantly looking down. Cid was definitely not his choice of company, but he was still a friend none-the-less. "I'm guessin' you're here for the same reason as Barret?"

"Barret's here?!"

"Of course. Apparently Reeve freaked out a bit too much, and wanted to get in touch with everyone. Unfortunately, Tifa recently ran away, Vincent's out vampin' or whatever vampires do, Yuffie is just gone, and Cloud's..." He let the sentence hang there. They all knew about Cloud; one day he had simply said that he would be going out, and he never came back. They knew he was alive; it was the man's _sanity_ they were worried about.

"You wouldn't happen to know _why_ Reeve wanted us here, would you?" he asked sceptically.

"Nah, but I got some news for you and Barret! Just a few minutes; go in the back, I'll have dinner up in a few minutes."

Authors Notes: So yeah, it's all depressions fault. Fuck depression. Look up 'Seth' or 'The Dark Land of Oz' (can't remember which I used) who wrote a few songs on here - that's most of the stuff I did. I even wrote about a dozen songs the other day, I just can't be bothered to type them up and put them there yet. I may take down my Seth name and switch it to here.

If you read this, I don't care if you don't R+R seeing as how it's my old writing style. Just hope you had phun.


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